Samantha Allan Park Part 1: The Beginning Of A New Life
by TheNerdyTomboyNewb96
Summary: Sam is a tomboy nerd whose life has been destroyed by the Foot. She has nothing but her older brother who's barely ever around. Somehow, fate leads her to discovering the turtles. Will they accept this stranger they just met, or push her away? Will this make her life better, worse?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter #1

Theme music:  
-Big Bang (Loser)  
-Echosmith (Cool Kids) 

The bell had rung and finally the school day was over. Coincidentally, all my after school club groups decided to cancel their activities, so I was free to head straight home. Most normal everyday people would love being able to head straight home, but I would rather have had something to do at school. Heck, anything would be better than just heading back to an empty apartment with no one in it. Jay had to work again (when didn't he?) so tonight was just another night alone.

Most high school kids would be excited for whatever exciting plans they had scheduled for that night with their friends, but again, this wasn't the case for me. It's weird actually, since I'm a participant in multiple school groups: NHS, student council, senate, mathletes, robotics, etc. pretty much any academic group the school has to offer. I'm also a dancer at a locally well-known dance studio, AND to top it off I'm also a member of a club soccer team. As you can see, it's not like I was isolated from the world. Ironically I'm surrounded by people all the time, but none of them seem to want anything to do with me. Literally all the groups I just previously mentioned have cliques and groups of friends that get together every weekend, but not once have any of them ever asked me to join them. They talk to me in class sometimes, but then it's just "see you later Sam" and then I never hear from them anymore.

This has pretty much been my life since 7th grade when my only friend and dependent was my older adopted brother Jay. Ever since I was 12 and he was 19 we were all the other had after what the foot clan had done to us, but I don't want to get into that right now.

At this point I was standing outside my apartment complex. Luckily, I lived within relative walking distance of the school, so it didn't take too long to get home. I punched in the code to get into the building and headed upstairs to the 12th floor. I unlocked the door to my apartment and walked inside, instantly throwing my back pack into the corner of the room. I had no homework since I was in all standard classes. I saw no point in suffocating myself with constant AP homework, so I studied for the tests on my own time and took easier classes to lessen the stress.

I walked back to my room and went over to my desk. I opened the drawer and pulled out a pair of glasses with a solid black square frame. On the bridge of the glasses was a small camera. Basically I had built a pair of glasses that would have the same abilities as an everyday Go Pro. I had nothing better to do, so why not just wander around New York alone? Like I said before, anything had to be better than just hanging around the apartment all night, again. If I was going to spend another night alone, why not go out alone rather than stay inside the entire time?

I packed up a small bag I could sling around my shoulder with the main necessities that I needed: my wallet with about 40 bucks and all important passes and cards, my cell phone, my keys, and some type of small weapon. In this case I had a small pocket knife. It's New York, you never know what will happen. Once I got my belongings ready I made sure that the glasses were still functioning correctly. I walked into the bathroom and looked into the mirror and put on a fake smile. I then went back to my room and put a small plug head into a tiny port that slid open on the side of the glasses. I plugged the other side of the chord into my lap top and yup, the quick ten second video was playing with good clear quality. I then shut the lap top down, turned off all the lights, and locked the door as I headed out.

I sent Jay a quick text message stating that I was going out for a walk and for him to update me if anything changed. I headed down the hallway and into the elevator. I felt the phone vibrate and read a message that said "Please be careful, I know you're tough but you're still only 16. Stay in crowded areas and only travel around the parts of town that you're familiar with. I'll be home around 11:30. Love you!" I rolled my eyes and smiled. It was nice that Jay trusted me, though I'll honestly admit that I totally abuse that trust. I literally walk everywhere to the point where every part of New York is familiar to me. Again, I'm home alone, A LOT. So I've also wandered around alone a lot.

It was about 4:00 when I left the building. I walked around some familiar streets outside, then headed down towards the mall. I wandered around some of the clothing stores; went into the arcade for a little while and topped all my high scores on the same twenty or so video games that I enjoyed; read tons of books, magazines, graphic novels, and whatever else I could get my hands on at the bookstore; and then headed to the food court for some dinner. It was close to 7 when I headed out of the mall. I wasn't sure what else to do with the remaining time I had left, so I thought why not ride the rails for a while?

I entered the subway and saw that there was a train that within the next few hours would travel further out and then come back around to land at a stop not too far away from my home, so I got my pass out and boarded the train. I stood and grabbed a handle near the window. Even though we were underground I still enjoyed looking out the windows, it's something I had always loved to do since I was a little kid. I was surprised at how much room there was knowing that it was still "early" on a Friday night. I looked out the window waiting for something to happen. I feel like I'm always that way now, just waiting for something to happen. Life was fun and exciting when I was younger, but now life was just lonely and boring. As bad as it is to say, I almost wished something crazy would happen one day. Over the years I had become somewhat of an adrenaline junky, sneaking around and looking for something I could hack into and investigate, places I could go that I probably shouldn't know anything about, that kind of thing. Tonight however had been one of my more mellow nights. Some nights I would binge watch something on Netflix or go online and play some video games, tonight was another one of those more basic nights. I kept staring out the window at the walls, waiting for something to happen. But hey, what are the odds that anything exciting is living within those walls?

It was a little before 10 when I got off the train and headed back home, perfect timing to. If Jay had caught me then I'd be screwed. If he knew how late I wandered around alone then he'd be watching my back every second of every day. Once I got to my room I got my lap top back out and connected my glasses to it. I wanted to try some new Eulerian techniques I had learned about that would amplify the movements of whatever I recorded. Some of it was funny, like seeing people's faces change color from blood flow. I played around with that for a while until I got to the footage of me riding the train. I was going to skip this part, but I couldn't just watch half the video. Organized chronological me had to watch the video full way through at least once. I edited the film and looked for anything interesting. The technique I was using was supposed to amplify any small movements that the naked eye couldn't see, but there shouldn't have been anything interesting on a solid wall that was recorded for a few hours, at least that's what I thought.

As I slowed down the footage, I noticed some small left and right movements. Something was moving side to side along the wall, and not only once, but multiple times. What was moving? I tried zooming in and realized that it was an incredibly small camera. What was that doing there? Was someone filming a movie in the subway? If so, why were they using such small spy cameras? I noticed these cameras all throughout the video I had captured that night. I kept re-watching the film as I looked for a pattern or for some clue as to what the cameras purposes were. Finally, there was a break in the wall that lead down a tunnel in the middle of the subway. Down that tunnel was more small movements, meaning that there were more cameras heading down that direction. Someone was trying to monitor something down in the subway, but what?

"Interesting…" Well, thanks to my adrenaline filled self and my curious mind, it looked like I had plans for tomorrow night.

**Welcome to my story! To those who give it a chance, I hope you like it! **


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter #2

The next night I packed a back pack with materials I thought I might need when investigating the unknown area. I brought a scanner with a laser that would help detect where each of the cameras were, some small dome cameras that were linked to a small tablet that I kept within a pouch of the back pack so that I could see if anyone was coming, an old cell phone that I had messed with and could now be used as a crypto phone for eavesdropping and hacking, a pair of night vision goggles, some flash drives that I knew could hold and download tons of information and could do so within seconds, a simple grappling gun (man the internet was great, especially when you knew how and where to order materials in secret where you couldn't be tracked), and I also put a flashlight in the bag because why not?

In the two side pockets of the pack I put in two black metal tonfa that extended and shortened when I pressed a button on the bottom of the handle. In my pocket I also had a small pocket knife, and on my right hand I also had a small ring where a blade could pop out when a small part on the bottom was forcefully pushed in.

I made sure to change my look before I left. I used a black wig to cover my brown hair, and I wore black contacts to hide my light brown colored eyes. I used some make-up to make my skin look like it was a lot tanner than its usual pale white shade. I put on a form fitting long sleeve black shirt, form fitting black sweat pants, and my black running shoes. I wore a black beanie, black gloves, and even a black surgical mask that had a cute toy bear mouth print on it.

Once again Jay was working ridiculously late and said he probably wouldn't be getting back until early Sunday morning, so getting home on time wasn't an issue tonight. This was one of the two reasons I had waited so long before I began my investigation. The other reason being that at night time it would be harder to be seen compared to earlier in the day when some light still made its way down below the surface.

I left around 10p.m. through an exit in the back of the building on the bottom floor. It lead to an alley way where in the center was a manhole cover. I tried to quietly lift it up, and then I tried to quietly bring it back down as I climbed down the ladder leading into the sewer. I pulled out the camera detecting scanner and the old phone to use a GPS system to lead me back to the location I had passed by the previous night. I used my flash light to guide the way for the time being until suddenly, my detector device went off. According to the device, there had been another one of the small cameras nearby. I switched out the flashlight for my night vision goggles and then hid around a corner, aimed the device in the direction of the camera, and fired the laser. After a few seconds, the red light on the device turned green, signaling that the camera had been disabled and that I was free to move on.

I followed this pattern for about half an hour, every once in a while setting up a camera of my own, just to be safe. I had an audio sensor set up on my hand-held device as well, I wanted to be extra cautious since I had no idea what I might find.

**Theme:  
Bassnectar (Butterfly ft. Mimi Page) **

Finally, I saw a dim light shining down from the opposite side of the path from where I was standing. I put my goggles on the top of my head and I slowly walked forward. I heard a faint noise, but I wasn't sure what it was. It sounded like water, but would there be that much running water at this part of the sewer? I pulled my knife out of my pocket as I creeped around the corner. I was confused about what I saw at the opening at the end of the path.

I saw a t.v. and a couch and computers…what? As I continued to walk farther into the room, my jaw dropped. There was a water slide to my right, and next to that was a small eating area. On my left was a small space set up like a living room. It had a couch and some unique chairs, I swear one of them was made out of pizza boxes. There were even some video game systems with boxes of games next to the couch near the wall. As I walked forward I saw that there was some deeper space on the left that led to what seemed to be an arcade, and past that was more open space. I then looked forward to see, god how many monitors were there? There were computer screens with scanners and trackers and who knew what else displayed across them.

I kept walking around the gigantic room and looked at every site it had to offer. It was filled with all types of random objects from the city surface. Were these people secret agents, or were they just very creative artists? I was sent multiple different signals after getting a good look at this place. As my eyes wandered upwards and saw how high the ceiling was, I accidentally bumped into a skate board. Correction, a chair made out of nine skateboards. I was leaning more towards the idea that artists dominated this space. I then walked over towards the right side of the room. There was a small bridge connecting the main walkway to the eating area since the water from the waterslide ran underneath. On the wall in front of me were four gigantic circular openings, two on top and two below. They lead to some open space behind them, but I didn't want to venture to far from the entrance I had used. I noticed that the top left opening had some hammocks and bean bag chairs, the bottom left had some work out equipment, the bottom right seemed to be used for weapon storage, and the top right had…a DJ turntable with some other guitars and a drum set, definitely some random themes there. Following along the wall was a small kitchen area. I looked in the fridge, and there was nothing but frozen pizza and a variety of drinks. That was interesting. What was more interesting was the huge van on my left. I walked over to the stairs and looked down at the truck. It looked like the inside had tons of tech gear as well. Now I was thinking that maybe it wasn't artists living down here.

I then paused for a moment, I had to have been dreaming, right? Maybe someone had actually attacked and drugged me and this was all in my head.

Just as I thought that, I felt a presence nearby. I pulled my knife back out in self-defense…but nothing happened and no one appeared…so I slowly put the weapon back into my pocket. I checked my phone and saw that it was about 11:00p.m. I should probably start heading back soon. Who knew how long it would be until whoever lived here came back. I went back over to where the computers were, now realizing that there was a small opening between the two collages of monitors. I walked past them and was shocked to see that inside the opening was a lab. Well, okay I wasn't so shocked anymore, at this point I was more intrigued at what I would discover next. I saw a flash drive laying on a counter in the room. Without even considering the consequences, I took the flash drive and quickly put it in a zippered pouch inside my bag. With that, I put my goggles back on, got my GPS system ready and back tracked all the way through the sewer. I collected my dome cams on my way and finally by about 11:45p.m. made it back to the alley way outside my apartment building.

As soon as I got home I started setting up some cameras and other equipment within my room in case someone tried to come after me and attack. I also started setting up some programs on any and all devices I had in case someone tried to hack in and steal anything. Whatever I had just discovered, I wanted to learn more about it, no matter the cost. I mean if matters got too bad then I would back away, especially if Jay somehow got involved. But if it was just about me, then I didn't care. Jay was all I had left in this world and as long as he was safe then I was fine. He had a girlfriend now so she could comfort him if something that bad were to happen to me. Wow, that was pretty dark even for me, but hey blame life for that. It's the curve balls that the world threw at me in the past that explain how I could even think something like that.

But in all seriousness, I was extremely curious about what I had just found. I wanted to investigate further into what I had just seen, and nothing was going to stop me.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter #3

It was about 3a.m. when the turtles got back to the lair. There hadn't been a whole lot of crime that night, but they could only go out when it was dark, so sometimes they would still wander around the rooftops of the city just for the fun of it. For the majority of the night nothing had happened, so they stopped and watched movies from the rooftop near an outdoor theater that had been built behind some buildings in a back lot. It wasn't really until about 2a.m. when any action happened. A group of about five to ten guys had cornered a couple of women that had left a bar on their own.

Of course stopping these guys was a piece of cake to the turtles, but Raph had received a blow to his arm when one of the thugs had picked up a wooden bat they had seen poking out of a dumpster within the alley. Normally this wouldn't do any damage to any of the turtles, but Raph had injured his arm a few months back when fighting a Foot soldier. While dodging a punch, Raph had slipped and used his arms and legs to stop himself from falling all the way to the ground by pressing them against the walls of the alley as he slid down the wall. In doing so, he sprained part of the bone within his left arm, and of course this arm is where he was hit tonight.

Luckily, Donnie didn't think the injury seemed too serious. He had been working on a medical wing located in an open area behind where the lair was, but since it was still incomplete, he just used his lab for check-ups and for handling any and all wounds.

The four brothers had entered the lair from an entrance on the far left corner of the room. Leo walked straight ahead and then made a left as he went up the stairs next to the entrance that led up to his bedroom. Mikey made his way to the far right of the room where an opening lead to his bedroom. Raph headed straight to the fridge along the wall of where they had just entered.  
"I'll be over in a sec Don, just let me get an ice pack real quick."  
"Alright bro, I'll get things set up."  
Donnie headed over towards the mid-right side of the room where two sets of about twenty computer monitors each were facing each other. In the middle of the set was an entry way into his lab. He had all types of devices and chemicals and who knew what else in there. Donnie went through one cabinet and got out some pain meds he could give Raph so that his arm didn't hurt as much, and then got out his hand-held x-ray device so that he could check his brothers arm. He assumed that the hit shouldn't have done too much damage at this point since Raph's arm was mostly healed, that and you needed to be ridiculously strong in order to hurt Raph in general.  
Raph then walked into the lab. Donnie pulled a wheelie stool over and had his brother sit down. He first gave Raph the meds, and then he used the x-ray to check on the bone. Everything still looked good to him, so the hit didn't do any real damage besides for just making Raphs arm feel sore.  
Donnie smiled at his older brother. "Alright, looks like you're good to go. Just try to take it easy, okay? If you must exercise or whatever, just don't do anything that starts to feel uncomfortable."  
"Alright, alright I gotcha. Can I go now?"  
"Yea you're good, see you in the morning."  
"Yea, night bro. And thanks for looking out" Raph said as he pat his brother's shoulder.  
As Raph left the room, Donnie reached over toward the counter, aiming to pick up the flash drive with all their medical information on it so he could update it about what happened to his brother's arm. He turned around after he felt nothing but empty space. He rubbed the back of his head and raised an eyebrow.  
"Huh….I could have sworn I left it right here on the counter…"  
He searched all along the counter, but still he couldn't find it. He then began searching all throughout the lab, looking through every bin and drawer he had. He searched every corner of the room, but still he could not find the flash drive. He quickly walked out and turned right so that he was standing in the entry way to his bedroom. He looked everywhere within the room and still found no sign of where the flash drive could be. He was beginning to worry. He ran out of his room and straight across the lair to one of the exits next to the arcade. Once he exited the lair he then made a right and headed for the med wing. Maybe he had left it in here for some reason….that he couldn't think of….at all really. Still, nothing. He ran back into the lair towards Leo's room. He then started banging on the bedroom door.  
"Leo! LEO! WE HAVE A PROBLEM!"  
Leo slowly opened the door, pinching the bridge of his nose in annoyance.  
"Donnie, it's about 3 in the morning, what are you freaking out about this time?"  
"Leo, the flash drive with all our medical records is gone!"  
"…And?" Leo was confused as to what the heck that was supposed to mean, and why it meant his brother was screaming his head off.  
"Leo, you don't understand. I NEVER LOSE ANYTHING! And I can't find that flash drive! It has every bit of information that I've ever been able to gather about our existence on it!"  
Leo rolled his eyes as his brother continued to complain.  
"*sigh* Okay Donnie, I get that the flash drive is important, but there's no way tha-"  
"Oh no…it seems I was wrong…"  
The two brothers turned around to see their father, Splinter, a mutated rat whose height reached up to about the boys waists, standing across the room on the other side of the water slide.  
Mikey, who was still very sleepy, had also entered the room.  
"Dudes, what are we yelling about?"  
"Dad, what's wrong?" Leo was now growing concerned. He walked down a ramp under the water slide that led to the other side of the room with Donnie right behind him.  
Splinter shook his head.  
"We had a visitor today, it seems she was more troublesome than I thought."  
Mikey's eyes went wide.  
"WHOAAAA WE HAD A VISITOR!?"  
"WHAT THE HELL ARE WE ALL YELLING ABOUT!?"  
A very tired and grumpy Raph had entered the room.  
Splinter waved for his sons to come closer as he told them about what had happened earlier that night.  
"A young woman entered the lair earlier this same night. At first I wasn't sure what to think, it's not like we've ever had visitors before besides for April, but after she had walked around for a minute or two, she seemed innocent. I thought I had observed her closely to make sure that she wasn't doing anything suspicious" he frowned and shook his head. "But perhaps I was wrong."  
All four of the brothers' eyes went wide as they heard this info.  
Leo was shocked. "Dad, why would-"  
"OH MY GOD SHE TOOK IT!" Donnie shouted as he stood up and started pacing frantically with his hands behind his head.  
Leo closed his eyes, took a breath, and started again.  
"Dad, why would you let someone wander around our home, and more importantly, why didn't you tell us anything?"  
"My son, I never sensed a bad aura when she was in here, not like when the Foot attacked us so many months ago. She seemed more so intrigued about something she had randomly discovered more so than that she was on a mission to attack us or purposefully invade our home. If it became anything serious then I would tell all of you immediately, but it seems that that's already the case. "  
Donnie was still freaking out. "Dad, if that girl thoroughly reads those files, she could learn everything about us. That drive has everything from what April was able to get from TCRI about our origins up to now, and it has every medical record I've ever kept about all five of us. Say she's working for the Foot or for Sachs, she now could know of any injuries any of us has, anything that could weaken us that maybe we don't or won't know about, she and they now have the advantage in any fight against us! That or say Shredder or Sachs somehow know her and know she has those files, if they threaten her then she'll easily give them away! No matter the situation, we're screwed!"  
Raph rolled his eyes. "Donnie calm down! I get that this is serious, but chill!" Raph knew this was obviously an important issue, but at the same time he was dying to just go back to his room and lie down.  
Mikey panicked. "Whoa dudes, a girl was here….what if she saw my room? My room isn't clean!"  
Raph shoved his brother "Shut UP you idiot!"  
Leo walked over to Donnie. "Alright, I get that this is serious, but hopefully whoever took those files is also sleeping since it's still three in the morning. Later when we are all awake we'll do whatever we have to in order to get that flash drive back. Sensei said the girl seemed innocent, so maybe this is all some type of misunderstanding. But everyone working while they're dead tired isn't going to get us anywhere."  
Donnie took a slow breath in, and then out. "Okay. You're right. We'll work on this later." He shook his hands, trying to get his jitters out, thinking about someone coming back and attacking them so soon after they had just found a new place to live for such a short period of time.

Raph was pleased. "THANK YOU! NIGHT!"  
"Wow, we're hunting for a girl…hope she's cute."  
"Shut up Mikey!" Raph smacked the back of his brother's head, and then the two went off towards the right side of the room where their bedrooms were.  
Donnie started to head off to his room as well.  
"Donnie." He turned to face his eldest brother.  
"Make sure you actually get some sleep, since you're the one who will know how to catch her. We'll need you in the morning, so go to sleep NOW. Please."  
Donnie gave a small smile and put his hands up in defense. "Alright Leo I hear you." It made him happy knowing that his brothers relied on his brains and technical abilities, especially since he was the weakest in the group, though that was also because he was the thinnest. No matter what he did he just couldn't build up his muscles the same way his brothers did. At the same time, he liked that there was still a way that he could contribute to the group of four and benefit the group. Plus, even if he wasn't as buff as his brothers, he was still incredibly strong, just not always as strong, but still very close behind.  
As Donnie entered his room, he was tempted to start looking into who the thief was, but he knew that he was just as dead tired as the rest of his brothers. Instead, he decided to map out a plan as to how he could get his brothers to help him catch the thief. He wrote out some ideas and then decided to call it a night.  
"We're going to catch you. You may have snuck by for now, but you're not going to get far."  
And with that, Donnie took off the tons of belts covering his body, the vacuum pack he carried on his back, and then finally his glasses as he collapsed on his bed and officially called it a night.

***The next morning***

The first thing Sam did when she woke up was check and see if anyone had tried to enter her room throughout the night. She had two hidden cameras in her room: one in her digital clock on a small table beside her bed and one in the desktop speaker across the room on her desk. She also had a square motion detector that would go off in case someone was to come in through the window. Sam could turn this on and off with the old phone that she had reprogramed. From what she saw, no one had tried to break in. She then went over and inspected her computer. She had a pretty good cyber security program set up on her lap top, but from what she saw, it wasn't needed that night. It didn't seem like anyone had tried to hack into her computer which was a huge relief. This meant that whoever the flash drives owner was either A. didn't know she had taken it yet, or B. they knew and just hadn't started looking for it yet. Either or was fine with her since this meant she had some more time to plan out when and where she was going to start looking into the information that was on it.

For now though, she still wanted to relax before she would have to start watching her every move. She exited her room and made two rights. Once in the living room, she walked straight across the space and then made a right as she entered the kitchen. She felt lazy that morning and decided to make a bowl of cereal.  
"Hey kid, pour me some to."  
Sam smiled as she turned to see her older brother groggily walk into the kitchen.  
Jay was her adopted brother and was of Korean decent. Sam and Jay's individual biological grandfathers had worked together in the Korean War years ago, and they continued to be best friends when Jay's grandfather moved to the states and even lived with Sam's grandfather for so many years until he got married and began raising a family in his own home. The two men both had sons when they got married to their wives, and then these two boys were best friends all their lives as well. Once these two got married to their wives (ironically the female versions of themselves and also being best friends), their kids of course also became good friends. The two boys had grown up as only children, so both men were fans of having larger families. Jay's father was a few years older, so he had his children a few years before Sam's dad did. The Park's had four kids at two years apart: a daughter Jamie, a daughter Amber, a son Jay, and a final son Brian. The Allan's had their first child about a year after Brian was born. Again, their children were each born two years apart: a son named Nick, a daughter named Haley, a daughter named Sam, and a final son named Chuck. Even though they were two separate families who had no blood relations whatsoever, both families loved and cared very much for each other, the children all growing up like they were cousins because of how close they were. When Sam was six, the Park parents were involved in a car accident and sadly passed away. In the parents will it stated that if the other family said yes, their children would live with the Allan's. Without hesitation the entire family welcomed the four children into their home with open arms. Within thirteen years, so much had changed. Sam, who was 16, now lived solely with Jay who was only 23, and because of this she had included his last name into her full one, just like he had when he was adopted into her family. Her full name was now Samantha Allan Park.

All his life he wanted to become an actor, but because he was so young, there was no way Jay could afford to go to college on his own. At the same time, Jay had always been good at working with computers and fixing whatever electronic device was broken, so he found a program where he could basically work as tech support while also taking college classes part time, with the financial help from his job that is.

"When did you get in last night?" Sam poured her brother a bowl of cereal and sat down at the table across from him.  
"Not until about two. I love where I'm at with both my job and also in prepping for my career, but man I wish I had more time to just come home and relax."  
Sam gave her brother a worried look. "Are you getting enough sleep?"  
Jay gave a small smile. "Yea, but you have to work non-stop hours before you finally get a few days off to relax. Luckily I get my break for the next couple of days, not including classes. Those I still need to attend. But hey I'm free for today" he said in a much cheerier tone.  
A huge smile appeared on Sam's face. "Wanna take me on a field trip?"  
Jay chuckled. "A field trip? Where to?"  
"Well, you know where to go in order to use amazing software for free and/or for cheap right?"  
"…Yeaaaaa, why?"  
"It's for a project topic. It's like when you're in 5th grade and you need a topic to experiment with, except this time the topics are much more complex. Mine is to compare computer systems and see which programs and which companies have the best software to use. But I need a variety of places and programs to use."  
Jay raised a brow at his sister and laughed. "And this is for a high school class? Aren't you in standard classes?"  
"Wellllll, it's actually for a scholarship." Sam rubbed her hand on the back of her head.  
Jay smiled and shook his head. "Gosh you're such a nerd."  
"Says the guy who is literally working for geek squad."  
The two laughed and continued to crack jokes as they finally got a chance to hang out with each other. Jay still supported his sister in as many of her high school activities as he could; watching as many soccer games and dance performances as he could, helping her study for major upcoming tests, letting her practice presenting projects and speeches, etc. But even so, it was rare that they got to actually hangout and have a full on conversation with each other.  
"Okay, so I'll show you a few main locations I know about, we'll head to lunch, and then I'll spend the rest of the night kicking your ass at video games. Sound good?"  
"Riiiiight, because you always win when you verse me in video games, okay older brother."  
"Yea, when you don't cheat!"  
Sam threw her hands in the air. "Just because I know all the powerful and strategic moves for each game doesn't mean I'm a cheater!"  
"Yea, yea, whatever. Go get ready and I'll meet you back in the living room in 10."  
Sam smiled and headed towards her bedroom. She felt bad that she was lying through her teeth about why she wanted to go on this field trip, but she didn't want Jay knowing about what she had found, well stolen, just yet. She still wanted to investigate what was on that flash drive, and now her brother was leading her in the right direction in being able to do so.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter #4

***Two days later* **

"*sigh*" Donnie rubbed the sides of his head in frustration as he stared at his computer screen. It had been about a day and a half since the flash drive had been stolen and he was having a difficult time tracking it down.

Everyone had been assigned a job to complete in order to try and find the girl who had stolen from them. Leo was instructed to look up articles on unique and gifted women throughout the state, Raph was told to look up records for the top female criminals throughout the state, Mikey was given the task of searching through popular social media outlets for anything suspicious, and Donnie was using his technology to search for signals of the flash drive being used. There was a tracking code within the data that was on the drive, so Donnie should have received a signal of when and where the drive was being used. But so far, nothing had happened.

The guys had hoped that there would be a lead somewhere, maybe an article talking about a criminal who was known for stealing whom the cops were on the lookout for, or a student who had made a recent discovery that was related to the info on the drive, anything that would give away any hints as to who may have entered their lair.

Leo and Mikey were sitting at the table, while Raph was sitting on the couch on the opposite side of the room where Donnie sat.

Mikey was enjoying his portion of the search, but Leo and Raph weren't as interested.  
"Ugh come on Donnie, how much longer do we have to do this? There's no police statements talking about any major criminals, and you also haven't heard of any recent Foot activity. So why are we still sitting around? I say we take to the streets and look for this chick!"  
Leo rolled his eyes. "Raph, we don't know anything about this girl. We don't know how old she is, what she officially looks like, where she's from, not a single thing. All we know is Sensei's description of what she looks like and that's it."  
"So?" Raph glared across the room at Leo. "We know she has black hair and black eyes, so let's start there. Maybe check out some usual spots where criminals like to hang out at, I'm sure she'd be somewhere like that!"  
Donnie sighed. "That's the thing Raph." He spun his chair around, taking the first time in hours to look away from his cluster of monitors. "We don't know if she's a criminal. What if she's just a gifted student who found a way to find this place? We can't just go attacking random people."  
"She STOLE from us! How does that not make her a criminal? Why are we defending this chick?"  
Leo stood up. "We're not defending her, we're trying to analyze the situation! If we run in and just start attacking any and every black haired girl we can find in New York then this situation is going to get a million times worse!"  
"Guys chill, I can't investigate with you all yelling."  
Leo took the phone that Mikey had been using and rolled his eyes after looking at the screen. "Mikey, how is watching BuzzFeed videos on MySpace helping us try to track down this girl?"  
Mikey nervously laughed, trying to lighten the mood, even though his eldest brother was glaring down at him, and he could feel Raph's eyes glaring at him from behind as well.  
"Ahhhhh, hehe, well, you see-"  
Donnie tried to intervene "Uh guys?"  
"MySpace?" Raph was confused. "Why are you using MySpace? Who the hell uses MySpace anymore?"  
"I do Raph, I'm new to this! You know we're not allowed to go on social media sites!"  
"Guys?"  
Leo then turned to Raph. "Wait, how do you know that? Do you go on these types of sites?"  
"Uhhhhh" Raph looked away nervously. "Sometimes I like to see if we can get ahead of the enemy, you know?"  
"You don't post anything do you?"  
"Guys!"  
"Yes Leo, because my goal in life is to post online and let people know of our existence! I mean I can understand you questioning Mikey but questioning me, seriously? I'm not stupid!"  
"Heyyyy" Mikey frowned. "What are you trying to say?"  
"I'm saying that-"  
"GUYS!"

All three brothers looked ever at Donnie.  
"Guys, Raph is right about just sitting around. Instead of having you guys spend all day looking at electronic devices just waiting for something to change, you guys can just check back every once in a while throughout the day, and I'll be the main one to be on the constant look out for a signal of the device being used."  
"Thank you!"  
"Wait!" Leo held up his hand to stop his brother. "Don, that's not fair to you though."  
Donnie shook his head. "It's no problem. I know more about this this stuff anyway, and I want to be ready for when this girl makes a move, so it's best if I'm the one sitting around all day looking at these screens. Besides, I already do that on a daily basis" he chuckled.  
"Alright, but if anything important comes up then tell us immediately."  
"Immediately!" Mikey pointed at Donnie.  
Leo chuckled at his younger brother who was trying to make it seem like he had any idea of what they were talking about.  
After that, the three brothers left the room to go do whatever. Donnie turned back around to face all of his monitors. He kept waiting for a signal to pop up. If whoever has stolen the device was smart enough to disable so many of his cameras, then it was extremely likely that they would want to look at the information on the drive as soon as possible, so what was taking them so long?  
And that's when it hit him, what if it wasn't necessarily that they wanted to wait, but that they had to? He then pulled up a tab on one of the many monitors and searched for a list of high schools throughout the state. He decided that while he waited for the signal, he would hack into the main databases from each of the schools on the list and look for both current students and also graduates from the past couple of years, and search for and note as many of the black haired females with black eyes that he could find from each one.  
"Well, at least it's a start. Let's get to it."

***Same day, Monday***

Today was Monday, so I was in robotics club after school. Club got out in about five more minutes, then I would be on my way to a library halfway across town.

There were six places that Jay had taken me where I would be allowed to use computers that had the software to be able to prevent the files from getting hacked or stolen while I was reading them: Jay's work building, the university that he had attended, a library, a hospital, a bank, and an art studio. Luckily he had friends at all these locations that gave me a pass that would allow me to go inside on my own time. They all were thrilled to know that someone was interested in their software and what they used it for, and since they all knew my brother so well, they believed they could trust that I wouldn't do anything stupid or reckless at their workplace. Bless these people's souls for that.

I decided to go to the furthest location first which was the art studio. The passes didn't have any specific information on them about who I was, only that I was a guest who was to be allowed inside and where I was allowed to go inside the building.

Right after club ended I went home and changed. When I got to my room I put on a blonde wig, blue contacts, and I used some make-up to make my skin look paler than it already was. I hated seeing my hair be blonde. I don't have a problem with blonde hair, but I don't think it suits me very well. I packed a small cross-body bag with my phone, keys, any important passes or cards, and both my own and the stolen flash drive. I should have been in more crowded public areas tonight, so I didn't bring a weapon with me this time.

By the time I was ready to go it was about five in the afternoon. I left through the exit in the back of the apartment building and then walked towards a wooden fence that lead to another alley. Once I got through, I then left through that alley and entered the streets of New York. This was in case there were any cameras nearby, hopefully they would see me come from a different direction than from my actual building. I headed down towards the subway and rode the train for about another half hour, arriving at the studio by six. Once inside the building, I tried to act normal and not super excited that I was finally about to look into the device. I made my way to an empty room with about ten computers. I punched in a code that Jay's friend had given me and entered the room. I sat down at a computer and quickly got a post it note and put it over top the camera on the front of the computer screen. Then, I plugged in a flash drive of my own that contained a security system that should help warn me of any intruders, and then plugged in the flash drive I had taken. A folder popped up and after I clicked on it, tons of new folders flooded the page. I decided to start with the folder at the very top of the screen labeled _"TCRI's past." _I was then brought to multiple typed up documents talking about past experiments that were conducted at TCRI. I began to wonder if the area I had discovered was an underground base for someone who worked for TCRI, I mean hey that would be a genius idea for a hiding place. The sewers definitely wouldn't have been my first guess as to where someone's hiding spot would be.

As I was reading, there was a highlighted section within the document. The highlight's talked about a chemical of some kind that was going to be used for medical research and how the chemical was used on five animal test subjects. From the way the document was worded, it seemed like someone didn't want every individual piece of information from this experiment known. It seemed suspicious, but I wanted to see what else there was to read about.

I then went back and clicked on a link titled _"Our DNA." _A few charts then popped up that talked about regular human DNA and also about altered strands. I wondered if this had anything to do the animals that had been tested on in the previous document that I had read, but why did it say 'our' then?

Suddenly, a pop up stated that an unknown user was trying to access the information I was looking at. I then started typing in some codes that would block this person from viewing what was on my screen. I had to be quick. Dang, I hoped that I would have had a longer time to look at the info that was on the drive, but just like I had suspected, the owner was quick to pick up on my location.

After a few minutes of quickly punching in codes, I was able to block the intruder, but I knew it would only be a matter of minutes to seconds before they found another way in. I quickly took out the flash drives, took a breath to calm myself, and walked out of the room.

The whole way home I wondered if the intruder could be anywhere nearby by coincidence. Gosh that would be insane if they happened to be in that building for whatever reason, or just happened to be on this subway car at this exact same moment that I was.

As I got back to the alley, I took off my wig and tucked it under my shirt. I entered the building and went straight to my apartment, setting up my security devices once again. I was scared, but at the same time intrigued. I was curious as to what this chemical was, and why it was so important. I decided that I would research about it more tomorrow, and for now, I was going to try to stay calm and just focus on my school work, heading back to my ordinary life.

***Same day, Monday***

Donnie had made a decent sized list of all the girls with black hair and black eyes that were between 13 and 25 years old. He then had his brother's look for anything they could find about the girls on the list. There were a few leads, but nothing that hinted that these girls could figure out how to sneak into the lab. Plus, the majority of them had been out with friends all that Friday night according to their social media pages.

Just as Donnie began looking into an article about one of the girls in college, an alert popped up on his monitor.  
"I got it…..GUYS I GOT IT!" The other three looked up and hurried over and stood behind their brother.  
"Where is she?" Leo questioned.  
"She's at…..got it, an art studio."  
"Soooooo, what're you doing dude?" asked a curious Mikey.  
"Well, I'm using a security program to hack into the computer she's using. It should allow me to steal all the information on the flash drive and basically wipe it clean while all the info is transferred to my computer where it will stay safe. But I just need to hack into the studios database and then into whichever computer she's using."  
"Ahhhhh….right…"  
Donnie chuckled. "I'm moving the info on the flash drive somewhere where our thief can't touch it anymore."  
"Dude, why didn't you just say that before?"  
Donnie continued typing away. "Aha! I'm in, now I just need to…crap, she's blocking me out already?!" Donnie continued to type away furiously. It was quiet for the longest time, no one wanted to break Donnie's concentration. After a while, the brainiac of the bunch sighed in defeat.  
Leo scrunched his forehead. "What happened?"  
"She got away. AGAIN."  
"How did she do that?" Raph clenched his fists, this girl was really starting to piss him off. He didn't like seeing his brother so stressed out, and the fact that she beat Donnie at something he was a genius at worried him even more.  
"She knew the right codes to use in order to block mine. Just as I was about to dive back in, she must have pulled the flash drive and left. There's still ways for us to hunt her down, but this would have made things a lot easier for us, well more so easier for me specifically."  
Mikey frowned, he knew that his older brainiac brother was mentally stressing and complaining about himself for not being able to win this electronic battle.  
"So what do we do now bro?"  
Donnie began typing again. "If I can get access to the buildings security cameras, which I'm doing now, we can look and see who was in the building and maybe even who was in the room of the computer that was used to get a better visual of who the thief is. Then maybe we can narrow our search down a lot more."  
He pulled up one of the buildings cameras on each screen. The four looked back and forth from each monitor, but they couldn't find a black haired woman anywhere. Donnie then figured out which room was used and pulled up the video from the time that he was trying to hack into the studios computer. He could only see the side of the girls face, but to his surprise, he was staring at a woman with blonde hair rather than black.  
Leo looked and saw his brothers jaw drop.  
"Now what's wrong?"  
"Well, there's a few scenarios as to what I'm seeing. Scenario A. she is or at some point was wearing a disguise. Scenario B. she has already shared or lost the flash drive and now someone totally different has it. Either way, she's made the whole situation a lot more complicated. If this person on the screen is the same person who stole from us, then this chick is good at what she does."  
"So what do we do now?"  
"I'll have to keep waiting. It might take a few days, but if I can get signals from where she's at, I can try to figure out some generic ideas as to where she lives based on the locations of the buildings she's in. Also, the more places she visits, the more camera angles we can get. If we can get closer looks at her, and also angles that show which ways she heads home, we may be able to pin point her home location."

All four brothers smiled. Finally they had a plan that could lead them to catch this girl. It was a risky plan, but hopefully the result would end up in their favor.  
_

***4 days later***

It took him four more days, but Donnie had finally started to plan how he and his brothers would try to capture this girl.

Donnie smiled. "Alright, it's time to take action."  
Leo walked over to his brother. "How did you figure out who we should go after?"  
"Get ready, it's a long explanation." He breathed in as his other two brothers also walked over to hear how everything went down. "Each time I got an alert that the drive was being used, I would try to hack into the computer that was being used and retrieve what I could, and I was actually able to secure some of the documents. Once the girl had fled the scene, I analyzed any video footage I could get my hands on: videos from the building the thief had been in, security cameras outside of the building in the direction she had gone once leaving the building, subway cams, etc. That's when I began to notice a pattern in the thief's schedule. Usually she would read over the documents later in the evening or sometime at night, but on Thursday the thief had observed the documents in the early afternoon rather than closer to night time as usual."  
Leo nodded. "So that's why you had us check all those school databases for absentees, right?"  
Donnie smiled and nodded.  
"Exactly! I found a few female absentees who had similar body figures like the girl we had seen in the videos. Once the options had been narrowed down to about twenty girls or so, I began looking into some of the women's more personal information. Based on academic records alone, the options were then narrowed down to about ten girls, and the location of Thursday's visit narrowed this down to three. After A LOT of research, I discovered that one of the three girls was in contact with someone who has connections to multiple people in each building that the signal for the drive being used at. I looked into information about this girl and learned that she has been in school clubs like robotics and mathletes, and she also plays soccer and dances. Her AP and SAT scores are ridiculously high and she participates in competitions like science fairs. She has to be our girl!"

Raph raised in eye brows in shock. Even though he knew his brother was a genius, it still always shocked him how quickly he could figure out the solution to any situation within a matter of days.

Leo nodded his head and smiled.  
"So you think it's time we approach this woman?"  
"Well, I figured out that she's living with a man under the last name Park and where his main location is, and based on some of the routes the camera angles showed her taking by bus, train, and on foot, I've been able to pin point that they live together in the same complex. So as soon as possible we should carefully approach her and get the flash drive back."  
"We should be doing more than that!" Raph was getting angry now. "This chick came into our home and stole from us! I think we should bring her back and question her motives! How do we know she won't be back again?!"  
"We're…we're not gonna hurt her right?" Mikey was concerned with where this conversation was going.  
"Well fearless, what's the plan?"  
Leo stopped and paused for a moment.  
"Alright, Donnie figure out the best way for us to get to where she lives. We'll CAREFULLY try to approach her and see if we can either talk there, or bring her back here where it's safer for us so that we're not seen. BUT-" as he looked over at his youngest brother "if she starts getting violent or threatens us in any way, then we begin to use force. If it's obvious that just talking is too risky for our safety and secrecy, then we bring her back the hard way. In the end, it will be her choice as to how everything plays out."

Raph grew a nasty smile. From everything he had heard so far, this was no ordinary girl, and he couldn't wait to see what she was made of. He had waited a whole week to finally go out and catch the thief who had threatened the safety of his family and he was excited to finally get some answers.  
He cracked his knuckles and faced his brothers. "Alright boys, tonight's Friday night, let's have some fun." And with that, he left the room to go exercise and get himself pumped up for whatever was in store for them later when day turned to night.  
Mikey's eyebrows rose as he followed his brother out of the room.  
"Hey, are we going somewhere?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter #5

All week I had been trying to read the documents that were held on the flash drive, and every time I began to read anything, my computer was hacked by whoever was on the other side. I basically had to run every time I finally got everything set up and started. Tonight was the last chance I really had to view anything on that drive. I had visited all the locations I been brought to except for the university that Jay attends, and I was running out of disguises. I didn't know anything about make-up except for how to make my skin look lighter or darker with concealers and foundation, and I had basically used all my wigs and contacts. Since tonight was my last chance, I decided to just go as me. I had a feeling some type of confrontation was coming soon anyways because of how fast this person had been hacking into whatever computer I was using. Their speed and skill made it clear that they were catching up to me, so tonight I made sure to dress appropriately for a fight.

I wore a sporty gray t-shirt underneath a black zip up jacket, denim colored jeggings, and black tennis shoes. Tonight, just like the past few nights, I carried a backpack on my back where on the inside I was sandwiching my tonfa in between a few AP textbooks, and on an outside holder on the back was holding my skateboard, which at the moment was condensed into one thin rod that could extend when a button was pressed. This way I looked like I was just an everyday college student while at the same time I was prepared to defend myself. I also made sure to wear my ring with the blade inside just to be safe. I also had a small pouch inside the bag that had the basics: phone, keys, etc.

It was about nine at night when I left my apartment. Jay was meeting up with some friends to work on a project for one of his classes and told me that he wouldn't be home until sometime tomorrow afternoon, so I was free to leave and come back home whenever. I decided to take advantage of this and leave later in the day than usual in order to try and mix up when I was leaving to go view these documents. I even skipped school yesterday and still the hacker was ready and waiting for me, and they even stole back some of their documents. I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the flash drive after tonight. Maybe I would plug it into a random computer somewhere and just give this person back their information. It was interesting, but it didn't seem like anything illegal or anything that I would want to hold onto.

**Theme:  
Skillet (Feel Invincible)  
Skillet (Resistance) **

I walked out the back door of the building and made sure it closed all the way and locked. I began walking down the alley when I heard a noise, the sound of something falling. I stopped and stood still, I thought that this might happen. From what I heard, the sound came from further behind me down the opposite side of the alley. I couldn't tell if this person was by themselves, or if there were multiple people. Luckily, there was a manhole cover a few steps away from where I was. I took a breath, let it out, and darted forward.  
I picked up the cover and launched it behind me.  
I don't know who it was, but I heard a male voice say "Whoa!" and then saw a large dark figure duck and dodge the cover. I wasn't able to get a good look at the guy because I was already sliding down the ladder that lead into the sewers.

At this point I was just running blind, trying to remember the paths I had gone down this same time last week and trying to avoid them since that would lead me right back to where this person was staying. Hopefully, the further I was away from their main home location, the safer I would be. Right now I was mentally thanking my coach for making us run so many laps and hills during practice, because right now all that training was really paying off.

My main problem was that I had no idea where I was. None of these tunnels seemed familiar, but hopefully that meant I was nowhere near where their base was.  
Suddenly, I saw some light coming in from the top right side of the wall. I ran over and looked up through the sewer drain and saw that I must have been under a road near one of the quieter parts of town. I lifted up the drain cover and looked around. I was at a street that was surrounded by small local shops and food markets. No wonder it was so quiet, no one shopped at these places this late on a Friday night.

I went into my bag and pulled out my phone and pulled up a GPS system. I typed in the name of the first street I saw and realized I was actually pretty far away from where I had started running. I then checked the time and saw that it was now 9:20. Dang, I ran pretty far within that amount of time. I put my phone away as I was mentally bragging about how proud I was of myself. In doing so, I had lost my focus, and because of this ridiculous screw up, I hadn't realized that I was being watched.

I heard the sound of something fly through the air, and the next thing I knew, all the street lights had been blown out. If I had been focused then I would have been prepared for what came next.  
I went to reach for my tonfa when I heard someone shout "wait, no!" and that fast everything went dark.

I heard some faint noises as my eyes started to open, or at least they tried to open, why couldn't I open my eyes? As my senses started to come back, I realized that I was wearing a blindfold. I made sure to keep completely still so that whoever had hit me wouldn't realize that I was beginning to wake back up. I tried to listen carefully to what was going on around me.  
"You could have been a lot gentler dude."  
"She threw a manhole cover at your face! What twiggy girl has the strength to do that?! And her accuracy to! She threw it so fast and her aim was so spot on I actually thought it was gonna hit you!"  
"Aww you do care."  
"Now is not the time for jokes you little-"  
"Enough! We need to figure out how we're going to handle this."  
"Yeah, since not using force sure worked well, right fearless?"  
"Oh, and please share how you punching her in the jaw worked out as a much better plan for us."  
"Yea man, no wonder she wanted to run away."  
"She ran away BEFORE she even saw us, she was never going to handle the situation peacefully!"

So far I had heard three different voices talking. It seemed that the voices were coming from behind me, so my back must have be facing my kidnappers. I felt a bit of a rocking, so I assumed I was in some kind of vehicle, probably the van I had seen in their hideout the other night.

"Well no offense, but if someone hadn't been goofing off then she never would have heard us in the first place and we could have handled the situation better."

Okay, now there had been a total of four different voices, so four vs. one, fantastic.

Sam gently tried to move her wrists to see what she could get her hands on. When she moved them backward, she felt something soft. It felt like she was sitting on a couch. That was a bit odd, but then again, there was nothing normal about any part of this situation. It felt like there was just rope tied around her wrists, so she gently started to lean back some, as if her limp body was just moving slightly due to the fact that she was in a moving vehicle. Once her back was against the couch, she then began pushing her finger against the trigger on the ring. It took a few minutes, but finally the blade popped up. While the four voices continued arguing, Sam slowly began cutting away at the rope that kept her wrists bound together.

"So sir fearless, what's the plan now?"  
"We take her back to the lair and we'll talk to her there. I'll decide what to do next based on how that goes."  
"That's it?!"  
"And what do you suppose we do then?"  
"Well first I saw we challenge her! Let's see how she likes it when we throw shit her way! Then we keep questioning her until we get some answers!"  
"And if that doesn't work?"  
"We go back to using force, that's what lead us to finally capturing her!"  
"Well technically it was my planning tha-"  
"Yea yea I know that your genius is why we were able to track her down, but if we let her keep running then-"  
"Maaaaaaybe we could have actually talked to her?"  
"You have no right to talk since you're the reason she got away in the first place!"  
"Whoa! Chill bruh…..okay maybe it was my fault a little bit, heh."  
"A LITTLE BIT!? Are you seri-"

Before Raph could finish his sentence, he froze as he saw the girl that had been behind them stand up. She was facing the back of the van while Mikey sat in a chair against the back of the couch, so the two had their backs to each other. The girl's arms were free, and as she stood up she swung her right leg around as she turned her hips to her left and rotated her whole body around. As she swung, her right foot went up in the air. She moved so fast that Raph couldn't do anything to stop the girl from slamming her foot right against Mikey's face.  
Now Raph was more furious than ever. Deep down he had thought that maybe things would have gone better if Mikey hadn't accidentally slipped and dropped one of his nunchucks and startled the girl, but now all he believed was that this girl was pure scum. If she was really innocent, then she wouldn't have just kicked his baby brother in the face.

"THAT'S IT!" Raph charged towards the back of the van, but right after Sam had attacked, she immediately turned, ripped of the blindfold, and ran towards the back of the vehicle. Before Raph could get to her, she had already opened the door and swung around to the other side.

Raph quickly backed up, not knowing how to react. He so badly wanted to chase this girl down, but at the moment they were on a highway, and if he wasn't careful then someone might see him and his brothers through the opening in the back of the van. Luckily there were no cars behind them at the moment, but to Raph's surprise, the girl was no longer hanging onto the back of the door anymore.

Once Sam had officially gotten out of the van, she tried reaching for the ledge of the roof of the vehicle. She swung herself to the side and was able to get her hand on the ledge. She then swung hard to the right and was able to also get her leg caught on the ledge as well. She carefully pulled herself up onto the top of the truck.  
Sam had no idea where she was or what to do when suddenly she saw that a refrigerator truck was driving towards them in the oncoming lane.  
She slowly began to stand up, preparing for a quick and risky leap.

"Donnie where'd she go!?" Leo began to panic as things continued to get out of hand.  
"I don't know I haven't seen her…yet."

As Donnie was scanning his mirrors to see where the girl was, he saw a figure move from the top of their truck onto the ladder on the back of a larger truck passing by.  
Donnie stopped the vehicle and sat there staring at the mirror in shock.  
"She jumped" he said with a dropped jaw.  
"SHE JUMPED!?" Raph was beyond pissed. He couldn't wait to start fighting this girl since obviously she had some strength to her and all night she had been asking for a fight.  
"Dang that chick has a good foot on her, sucks I learned that the hard way though. Ow!"  
Raph quickly got a cold soda can from the fridge in the back of the van and handed it to his brother.  
Mikey took the can and smiled. "Hey thanks man!" he said as he opened the can and started to take a sip.  
Raph flicked his brother on the back of the head. "It's for you to put on your cheek not to drink!"  
He rolled his eyes and looked up towards his other two brothers in the front seats.  
"So how do we get her back now?" he snarled.  
"Don't worry, I'm already tracking her coordinates based on the directions that truck is able to follow. A truck that size can only follow select routes coming up, and I know a short cut that will lead us to her."  
And with that, the brothers sped away in the van, mentally preparing themselves for what could possibly come next.  
_

Once the truck had lead me back to the city, I jumped off at the first red light it stopped for. I winced from the pain in my foot. I was used to foot injuries, but wow that was a hard hit! It felt like I had just run up and kicked a bowling ball. I never expected the kick to hurt my foot anywhere near as much as it did, but luckily I could still walk on it, there were just some sharp pains when certain spots hit the ground. I had experienced similar feelings during some of my soccer games and the pain now was about the same as then, so I just needed to carefully keep walking it off and then I would be okay.

Once I got onto the sidewalk, I immediately got my tonfa and put them in the side holders of my backpack, making sure that this time I would be prepared for an attack. I started walking down the sidewalk and looked around at the shops and street signs. I had been here before, but it had been a long while, so overall I was in unfamiliar territory. The next thing I knew, all the street lights went out again. Really? We were going through the exact same routine as last time?  
I stood completely still, waiting to hear any type of sound. It was incredibly quiet for what seemed life forever. I refused to move unless I heard any suspicious sounds, since running away the first time obviously was the wrong choice based on the conversation I had heard in the van. I now regretted making that decision, but at the time I just quickly reacted to what could have been a dangerous situation. How was I supposed to know whether these guys wanted to peacefully chat or not?

After what felt like years of waiting, I heard the slightest sound of footsteps coming from behind me. I instantly pulled out my tonfa and spun around in time to block what I assumed was an arm that was aiming to hit me in the back. I pushed off and slid backwards some while trying to keep my balance. I heard footsteps quickly coming towards me, but since I didn't know what this person looked like, I had no idea where to aim a hit. For now I decided to try and fight defensively until I could gain any type of intel on what this person looked like or how they fought, or at least that WAS the plan until I heard what sounded like a sword being unsheathed. Shit, this was bad. I heard the swish from the movement of the blade coming from the right, so I dodged to the left and began to run. I had no idea what direction I was running in and tried to use my tonfa to feel around me so that I wouldn't run into something.

I felt a wall on my right and just continued to run straight, hoping that it would lead me somewhere safe. Lucky me I ran into a dead end in a dark alley. Now I was really scared and was afraid of what my brother would do to himself if he found out I had been killed. I tried feeling around for anything I could throw and to my surprise I found a pile of bricks. I must have been near a construction zone of some type. I ran along the wall until I was in a corner, and once I heard footsteps again I began launching the bricks in that direction. I still couldn't see, but I could hear the sound of the swords connecting with and breaking the bricks. Wow, this guy had to have some muscle to him, and incredible strength in durability to the blades as well if he could actually break the bricks with his swings. I reached down for another brick, but I felt nothing. I kept moving my hands around on the ground as I began to panic, this couldn't be the end for me already. I stood back up in order to defend myself, but it was too late. As soon as I was up I was hit on my temple, and once again everything went dark.  
_

As I started to gain consciousness, I felt a huge pain in the back of my head. I was really feeling the effects of getting hit in the face twice within about an hour.

I could tell that I had been blindfolded again, but this time my hands were bound with twist ties rather than with just rope. I could feel that I no longer had my ring on either, I figured that that was going to happen. I listened for the voices that I had heard earlier that night. I heard them, but they were very faint, hopefully meaning that they were further away from me than they were the last time I woke up. My surroundings were still and I thought I heard the sound of running water, so I assumed they had taken me back to their hideout. I couldn't tell from sound alone where exactly I was located within the gigantic room, so I wasn't sure what I should do. This time I woke up on my side rather than sitting upright, so I tried to gently move my legs around to see if there was anything I could feel that would give any type of clue as to where my location was. I also tried reaching my arms forward, since my hands had been twist tied in the front instead of the back. I couldn't feel anything, so I rolled over and faced the other direction and tried again. My foot kicked against a wall, and when I tried to scoot back I hit another wall, so I was probably in one of the corner spots within the large space. My foot seemed to be feeling a little better now, so that was a good sign at least.

The water now sounded like it had been coming from behind me, so I was guessing, based on what I could remember from last week, I was probably in the corner that was almost directly across the room from where I had entered when I came here alone. I listened for the four voices again and they still seemed to be coming from farther across the room. As scared as I was of being punched again (I don't know how much more of that I could take) I knew that I had to take this chance to escape. I was able to stand up by leaning and pushing off the walls. I lifted my arms upwards in a straight position over my head when I heard a rough male voice yell "OH COME ON! AGAIN!?" followed by loud footsteps coming closer towards where I was standing.

I then quickly and swiftly yanked my arms down, pulling my elbows in towards my sides as I did so, and was able to break the twist ties. I spun around and yanked off the blindfold as I tried to face my body in the direction that I was about to run to, but once the blindfold came off I stood there in shock.

Standing in front of me was a giant, intimidating, weapon holding…turtle?


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter #6

My jaw dropped when I turned around and saw him, and oddly he looked at me the same way. In front of me was a huge, as in ridiculously buff, turtle who was walking on two feet. His movements were human like, but his skin and body features were that of a turtle. His eyes were a greenish-yellow color. He had brown and red bandage wraps on his arms, wrists, calves, and feet. He had a strap going across the front of his chest which held what I assumed was a phone, and he had a few belts around his waist with holsters, but at the moment I couldn't see what they were holding. He also wore faded red shorts with brown flaps on the sides and red wraps around his knees. The brown flaps on the sides and in the front of his shorts almost displayed the traditional look of a samurai, and in addition to that he also had a red bandana that covered his head with a pair of black sunglasses on top. Who was this guy? I was so shocked but also so surprised that my dropped jaw had begun forming into a small smile, without me realizing it was doing so.

"Are you…aliens…or mutants?"  
His expression then began to change from shocked to pissed, as his dropped jaw expression shifted into a scowl. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything he was cut off by a strict toned voice, and then a childish one.

"That's none of your con-"  
"WE'RE MUTANTS BABY!"

We both turned to see three other human turtle looking guys walk over. One of them was shaking their head at a shorter one, and the tallest rolled his eyes and nudged the shortest one.  
"Dude! What gives?"  
"BE QUIET!" they shouted at him. He put his hands up in defense and walked off to the side.

I was trying to process everything that was going on.  
"Mutants huh…*gasp*" I slapped my hands to my cheeks. "You're the test subjects from the TCRI experiment! Right?"  
I looked from one turtle to the next, waiting for a response, but each of them just kept looking at each other with confused expressions, as if they were trying to reassure from the others how they should respond. So, I decided to ask the shortest one.  
I turned to him and asked "am I right?"  
He nodded with a huge smile.  
"Mikey, leave!" the strict one shouted.

The strict one was just a hair shorter than the buff one. I guesstimated that the buff one was about 6'5 and that the strict one was about 6'4. He also had a lot of muscle to him, but it seemed more like natural muscle and not so much that he spent every waking minute working out, like the buff one. Unlike the darker eyed turtle, this one had bright blue eyes. He wore a blue bandana and also sported the samurai look by wearing thin wooden armor across his chest, shoulder and knuckle pads, bandage wraps on his calves, and blue shorts that also had flaps that styled them to be similar to a samurai's armor. He also had a strap go across his chest, but this strap included a holder with two swords in them that were held on his back. Oh, so this was probably the one that knocked me out the second time, which I was still pretty sore from that. This one also wore shoes, but it was obvious that he had cut and altered both pairs so that they would fit his feet.  
My amazement at everything I was seeing made me continue to smile, even though I hadn't realized I was doing so.

"What's so funny?" the red one growled.  
"…what?" I absently asked as my smile started to fade.  
"What are you smiling about? Is this funny to you? Do we look funny?!"  
"There's a burn mark on your shoulder…"  
"…wh…what?"  
I pointed towards his right shoulder. "Why is there a burn mark on your shoulder in the shape of kanji?"  
"He just did that to look cool!" the shortest shouted from across the room through cupped hands around his mouth, and then instantly turning to run after doing so. I chuckled, he obviously knew that red was going to chase him down after saying that.

The remaining two sighed and shook their heads.  
"Well, so much for taking things seriously" blue said as he walked away towards the other two.

Now I was alone with the last of the four, the quiet one with the glasses. He had greenish-yellow colored eyes like the tough one, and he definitely had some muscle to him as well, but he was noticeably the thinnest of the four. What he didn't have in noticeable muscle he made up for in noticeable height though since he was definitely taller than the others, looking to be about 6'8. This guy was also a lot more fun to look at than the other two. He literally had technological devices and wires all over him. I couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like he had a small vacuum pack on his back, but whatever it was I assumed it was used to power a lot of the devices that he had on him. He had goggles on top his head, and on his left shoulder were small body cameras while there was an electrical outlet on his right. It was funny how he had a small microphone connected with the goggles, making him look like a nerdy gamer, but then he also had a pair of headphones around his neck that usually the "cool" kids used. The outlet was on one of a many straps that went across his chest, each with pockets holding who knows what type of devices within them. He even had a utility belt with even more tools and devices within the pockets that had been strapped onto the belt. Just like the previous two turtles, he also dressed like a samurai. He wore a purple bandana that matched the bandage wraps on his right shoulder. On the opposite shoulder he wore a shoulder pad. He sported an elbow pad that went all the way up to his wrist on his right arm, and on his left side he had an elbow pad and a control panel glove. He wore very faded purplish-grey shorts, but the flaps were solar panels, he was literally wearing solar panels. That's awesome! Like, who does that? So far he was winning in being my favorite of the four based on looks alone. I noticed that he also wore knee pads, a shin guard on his right shin, and boots.  
I hadn't realized how long I had been staring at him, but I had noticed that this whole time he had just been awkwardly staring at the floor.

"Can you talk?"  
He looked up at me with a surprised and somewhat irked look. "Well, yea…"  
I shrugged my shoulders. "Sorry, couldn't tell since you're being so quiet." I gave a small smile, trying to ease the awkward tension. It didn't help though.  
"Well, I'm not exactly sure what to say to the person who snuck into and stole from our home" he said in a serious and sour tone.  
Ouch, but I definitely deserved that. I did steal from them and I pushed them away every time they tried to get the flash drive back, and to top it off I ran away and fought one or more of them.  
A crash came from behind him. He turned around and sighed. "Wait here, please" he groaned. I guess I had a reputation of running away. I was going to stay put in order to gain their trust and show that I wanted to cooperate with them…until I saw a giant brown rat wearing a gold colored robe walking around in a space off to my right. In the room was a round stage like area, but what I hadn't noticed before was an entrance on the side of the risen up piece.

I slowly followed him through the opening, but without even turning around he had already sensed my presence. He whipped his tail at me, but I dodged it twice. I put my hands up in defense.  
"Whoaaa hey, I don't mean any harm I swear! You just look super awesome, that's all."  
He turned around to face me.  
"Is that your excuse for stealing from my sons? Because it was super awesome? Why did you sneak into our home?"  
I paused, thinking back to that night. "You…you were the presence I felt that night, weren't you?" He nodded. "If you knew I was here, then why did you let me roam around?"  
His brow furrowed. "You seemed innocent and harmless, like you had accidentally stumbled across something you never meant to find, but it seems I was wrong."  
I blushed a bit, beginning to feel embarrassed about the reason why I was now meeting all these people.  
"I'm sorry for stealing from your home. To be completely honest, I found this place by chance and I never meant to bring any sense of danger to you and your…wait did you say they're your sons?"  
He gave a small smile and nodded. "Yes, I raised those four all on my own since they were babies, so they are my sons."  
"Then you're also one of the test subjects from TCRI?"  
"Yes, that is correct." He motioned for me to sit across from him at a small table. I assumed he had mentally deemed me as safe, or at least not dangerous for now, and was starting to feel at ease with my presence. Now that I was being welcomed rather than attacked, I kneeled down and continued the conversation.  
"So, do you guys have names?"  
"Of course, you can call me Splinter. My oldest son is Leonardo, he is the leader of the group."  
"Soooooo the super strict one in blue?"  
He chuckled. "Yes, that is him. The second oldest is Raphael, he has a bit of a temper."  
"Got it, tough guy in red is Raphael."  
"Then we move on to Donatello."  
"Glasses! Right?"  
"That is correct, and the youngest of the group is Michelangelo."  
"The short fun one!"  
The old rat laughed. "I'm glad that you think so. As you can see, his brothers don't always see him as that. Usually they see him more so as the hyper one or the one who knows how to get under your skin. Most of the time they laugh at his silly antics, but in moments where the others want him to be serious, they get irritated by his jokes quite easily." He shook his head. "I love these four with all my heart, but sometimes they can get so out of hand."  
I smiled at him. "Yea, but trust me, life wouldn't be the same without loud and annoying brothers that are always bugging each other and everyone else."  
"Oh, do you have brothers?"  
I nodded with a big smile. "Yup! Four to be exact. Three older and one younger. I'm second to last in being the baby of eight, so I'm sure that's why I see your youngest as funny, because that's me a lot of the time in my family, hehe."

As I continued to talk with the older rat, the guiltier I felt for stealing from him and his family. Two of the five seemed really nice, and I'm sure all of them would have been more welcoming if I had handled this whole situation better.

"Umm…I want to apologize again for-"  
"Dad, what are you doing?"  
Leo was standing in the entrance way, and man did he look pissed.  
"Ah my son, I was just talking to…I'm sorry, I never got your name."  
I turned and put my hand out. "It's Sam, Samantha Allan Park." He shook my hand and smiled.  
"Dad" he sounded like he was trying to keep himself calm. "Can Samantha-"  
"Ew, call me Sam, please."  
"…Can Sam please come back with us so we can discuss some things with her?"  
Splinter nodded his head. "I'm actually about to head to bed my son, so please shut the door on your way out. Goodnight my son, and it was nice to meet you Samantha."  
"Likewise sir" I said with a huge smile. I stood up and walked past the turtle, now standing in the middle of the lair.

"What part of don't move don't you understand?"  
The buff turtle looked pissed again.  
I put my hands up in defense. "Look Raph, I'm sorry your dad is awesome and super nice to talk to, it won't happen again."  
"Don't make us go searching for you again or else…how do you know my name?" he growled.  
I smiled and pointed towards the entryway. "Oh your dad told me!" I said with excitement, in an odd way I was starting to feel comfortable around these guys.  
"Wait, what?! Why was she talking to sensei?" the tallest shouted.  
"Because she snuck away Don, because that's what she does!"  
I grabbed Raph's right arm. "You have a Campbell's soup can on your wrist."  
He yanked his arm back. "So what?"  
I smiled. "That's awesome."  
"HOW?!" The one turtle I hadn't really talked to yet had walked over.  
"Because nobody does that. Who would ever think to cut a soup can and turn it into a metal bracer?"  
"Pshh! Well, he'll never admit this, but he actually got that idea from me, hehe."

I changed my mind, this one was definitely my favorite, since he was funny and actually tried to hold a conversation with me. Michelangelo wore an orange bandana and was noticeably the shortest of his four brothers. He had bright blue eyes just like the strict one. He seemed to be about 5'8, which was the closest to my height of 5'5, which made him a little less intimidating. His muscle size was about the same as Leo's, so again more natural looking. He had on a couple sea shell necklaces with a pair of sunglasses hanging off of them. He had two straps that went across his chest, but it didn't look like they were holding anything at the moment. He wore some bandage wraps around his wrists and knuckles. He was the only one who didn't dress like a samurai and dressed with his own style, wearing a pair of black shorts with very faded orange stripes and a hoodie wrapped around his waist. He wore knee pads and had a shin guard on his left shin. He also wore shoes that had been cut and altered to fit his feet.

"ANYWAY" Leo cut in, and all was silent. "So according to sensei, you're here by chance?" he asked in a peeved tone.  
All four sets of eyes were staring at me.  
I pursed my lips as I reached into my pocket and pulled out the flash drive. I tossed it over to Donnie.  
"Look, I never meant to cause any harm or anything. I just found the cameras and eventually they lead me here. My mind went blank when I got here though, I mean this place is amazing. I didn't know who lived here and I didn't know if I'd ever get to see it again, so I took something that might lead me to learn more about it. That's literally all there is to it."  
"How'd you find the cameras?"  
Now all eyes were on Donnie. "Well?" he asked sternly.  
"I was wearing a pair of glasses with a camera built in, and when I got home I used some Eulerian techniques when editing the film and that's when I saw them."  
"What's that?" Mikey looked confused.  
"A technique that makes really small movements really easy to see."  
He smiled and nodded. "Ahhh, right. Of course." This guy was adorable, pretending like he had any idea what the technique was, but he definitely lightened the mood, in my opinion at least.  
Donnie still seemed upset though. "Fair enough, so how did you deactivate the cameras?"  
"I have a camera detector, you shoot the laser and boom, the camera shuts off."  
The others were silent, and they seemed a bit shocked as they listened to their brother talk. I guess they weren't used to hearing him talk in such a stern tone? At least I'm assuming this is why they were making the faces they were, since he had been silent pretty much the whole time I was here until now.

"If you happened to be here by chance, why did you keep booting me out every time I hacked into the computer you were using?"  
"Like I said, I wanted to learn more about what I had found, not that you really let me get that far though."  
I was hoping that maybe he would ease up some now that I had given the drive back to him, but he still seemed tense.  
"How do you know all that stuff anyway?"  
I gave him a puzzled look. "What stuff exactly?"  
"Everything." He spoke in more of a sour tone now. "About the camera techniques, how to deactivate my cameras, the codes that prevented me from hacking into whatever computer you were using, and now jumping off of trucks, defending yourself in the dark, and accurately throwing manhole covers when only taking a second to locate your target."  
"Oh!" I had completely forgotten about that. "Who was that?"  
"Meeee!" Mikey raised and waved his hand around like he was a child waiting to be called on.  
I gritted my teeth and sent him an apologetic look.  
"I'm so sorry about that. I panicked and just did what I could to defend myself."  
He shook his head.  
"No problem bruh, besides, your kick was a lot worse" he said as he rubbed his cheek.  
I slapped my hands to my cheeks.  
"OH MY GOD THAT WAS YOU TO?!" Seriously? How did I keep attacking the nice one?!  
"I'm so, so sorry about that. I really am."  
"It's all good, honestly I think you scared my brothers more than you did me. Especially when you started flinging bricks at Leo."  
Ah, so I was right about that. I turned toward the oldest turtle.  
"Sorry for that as well, and thanks I guess for not hitting me too hard. Or at least it didn't hurt as much as the first punch."  
"Don't thank me, I just did what needed to be done. Oh, and here's your stuff by the way."  
He grabbed my back pack from a nearby ledge and threw it to me. I looked inside and sighed with relief when I saw that my tonfa, phone, skateboard, everything was still settled in its original place within the bag. My ring was also in a zippered pouch on the inside of the bag.

"So what are we going to do with her?"  
Leo sighed. "We're not going to DO anything Raph, we got what we needed and everything is fine."  
"Fine? She's seen us now Leo, and I'm sure she's going to go tell people!"  
"Can I intervene?" I asked as I raised my hand. They both shot me a dirty look, but stayed silent.  
"I'm not going to tell anyone, because that could be dangerous for both of our families, and I don't want to cause any more harm than I already have. That and then people would want to see you and would start hunting you down to ask questions, and then I won't be able to ask my own questions."  
Raph made a puzzled expression. "What questions?"  
"Why does he have swords?" I said as I pointed towards Leo.  
"Because we're ninjas!" shouted Mikey.  
I was confused. "We're?"  
"Yea, as in 'we are' all ninjas. Heh, I know stuff" he said as he nodded cockily while crossing his arms across his chest.  
"Then why do only one of you have weapons?" I asked.  
"Oh we all do! You've seen Leo's katanas, Raph has sai's, Donnie has a bo staff, and I have these bad boys!" as he pulled out two nunchucks from behind him. So that's what his straps were for, he carried them behind him. And that's what was in Raph's holsters, and I assumed that Donnie's bo staff was hiding in one of his millions of pockets.

"Gosh Mikey, why don't you just tell her every secret we have, because that wouldn't be stupid in any way whatsoever!" Wow, yelling must be this guy's hobby.  
"Dude what's your problem? She's just curious about us, why is that such a bad thing? We said we wanted to talk to her right? Well, she's talking now!"  
"Yea, AFTER she attacked you, TWICE! And then she tried to hurt Leo! How can you just ignore all of that!"  
"Because we scared her and that's why she attacked!"  
"No, you messed up and freaked her out!"  
"Yea, and everyone apologized so everything's good now!"

Leo pinched the bridge of his nose as he watched the space between his two brothers get smaller and their anger levels grow higher. "*sigh* I can only do this for so long this late at night."  
"Don't worry, I'll help this time" his nerdy brother reassured.

The two went to break up and calm their brothers. As they did this, my eye caught something orange from across the room. I walked across to the other side of the room and then crossed the small bridge that lead to the eating area. Sitting on top of one the tables was a very unique looking skateboard. It was a bit longer and wider than normal, but if it was being used by one of these guys then of course this size would be needed. It was black and orange, so I was pretty sure I knew who it belonged to. There were a few wires taped to the bottom of it, and there were four rods with wheels at the bottom. These rods could move up and down with the board, making it easier to land and push up off the ground. It even had rockets on the sides as well, this thing was incredible! I laid my hand on the top and was shocked at what I felt. Skateboards were made out of wood, but this one was made out of metal. I inspected the board for a bit and after analyzing the materials it was made of, I picked the board up and lifted it over my head.  
Just as I did this, the four brothers turned around to see what I was doing, and all their eyes went wide. Mikey was terrified.  
"Wait, nonono!" he shouted as I swiftly smashed the board down towards the edge of the table. Just as I had suspected, not one scratch was made on the board.  
Mikey ran over and snatched the board away.  
"DUDE! What was that for?!" He then cradled the board in his arms like it was his child. "It's okay, it's okay" he said and then looked back at me. "WHY!?"  
"Your board is made out of flat carbon steel" I said with wide eyes and a huge smile.  
"Um…sure?"  
"*sigh* Yes it is. What's your point?" Donnie had obviously built this device, and also was very upset with what I had just done to his creation.  
"That means it would take something stronger than steel to break this, that's incredible that you could make that down here."  
He gave me a brooding expression and raised an eyebrow in annoyance. "You know about carbon steel?"  
I shrugged my shoulders. "Well, a little bit, since I have my own." I reached behind me and pulled a rod from the middle strap on the outside of my backpack. I pressed a button and the rod widened on both sides. Unlike Mikey's skateboard which was built like a traditional skateboard, mine had been built more so like a rip stick, but the platform for my feet did go all the way across from one side to the other like a regular board. Also like a rip stick, the wheels were underneath the front and back parts of the board rather than on the sides. Like Mikey's board though, mine also had rods that made getting on and off the ground easier.

Both turtle's jaws dropped when I showed them my board.  
"Whoa! Can I hold it? I promise I won't do what you just did to mine!"  
I laughed. "Yea of course" and I tossed him the board.  
Donnie inspected the device as well. "How did you get the design to be so small?" he asked in amazement.  
"Hehe simple" as I held up my hand and wiggled my fingers "I have small hands, so I can handle smaller parts" I said with a smile. "Plus I had to make it decently thin and light or else my tiny feet couldn't control the board well, that and it would be pretty difficult to carry."  
For the first time that night, the quiet turtle actually made a faint smile. "And how did you learn about this?"  
"One of my older brother's friends had some project type thing and at the time my brother had to take me with him pretty much everywhere, so I got to work on and keep one of their main prototypes."

"Looks cool bruh, I think it should have more color though."  
I raised my brow at him in a comical way. "What? A girl can't have a solid black and green skateboard?"  
He rolled his eyes playfully. "I didn't mean it that way, I just like brighter colors is all."  
Raph was standing off to the side by himself during this time, obviously wanting nothing to do with the conversation.  
Leo came over and took the board from his brother, curious as to what everyone was looking at. "The green symbols, what language is that?"  
"Korean. Half my siblings are Korean, so I wrote all my siblings names in Hangul."  
He looked at me with a puzzled face. "You're mixed?"  
I chuckled. "Naw. Four of my siblings are adopted. They went through…a rough time at home, to put it lightly, so when I was eight my parents adopted them."  
As he continued to read over the names, he noticed that there were more than four sets of characters written.  
"Wait…if half your siblings are Korean, then you're one of eight?"  
"YUP!" I said as I threw my hands up in the air in excitement.  
"Dannnnngggg! And I thought four siblings was a lot!" Mikey shouted.  
Mikey took the board back from his brother, took one last good look at it, and then tossed it back to me. I grabbed his left wrist right after he did so, looking over the marking that was there. It looked like a cursive version of his nick name.  
I gave him a fixed expression. "You have a tattoo?"  
"Yup! Two actually." He pointed up towards the top of his left shoulder where there was a much larger tattoo of what seemed like a black turtle shell. How I hadn't seen it until now I'll never know.  
"How do you have these?"  
He then pointed over to the second oldest and whispered "he practiced for years until he mastered the skill. I've had these for a few years now. You have any?"  
I rapidly shook my head. "Nope! No thank you."  
"Aww what's wrong with tattoos?"  
"Nothing, they're just not my thing. I don't see anything wrong with them, I just don't care for me getting one. I think certain one's look nice on other people though, but being brutally honest, I don't like sleeves. I personally think things like that are going a bit overboard. But hey, to each their own, you know?"  
He nodded. "I gotcha."

"ENOUGH!"  
Raph was fuming. This whole situation seemed to annoy him.  
"Why are we socializing with the thief?"  
"Whoaaa, you have one to!" I said as I pointed toward his right shoulder.  
"STOP. CHANGING. THE SUBJECT."  
"Okay, okay. Sorry, all of this is just a lot to take in. Plus you guys are probably way older than me so I'm sure my childish ways are probably irky to you."  
Mikey laughed. "How old do you think we are?"  
"I don't know, like early twenties?"  
Leo and Donnie both had to hold back from chuckling at my comment, Mikey on the other hand burst out laughing.  
"HA! We're only fifteen! Oh, but we can still have, adult conversations."  
"Wait…I'm older than you guys? That's no fair, you're all way taller than me!"  
"Aww" he mocked and pat my head "Well when you become a mutant, you can be tall like us!"  
"Gee, thanks." I said with a joking smile.

"Hey, I noticed your board didn't have rockets, why not?"  
I shrugged. "We never needed them, we were just making a modified version of a regular board."  
"Well! Next time you're here we totally have to change that, because mine can get some serious air and-"  
"NO."  
Mikey dead panned and looked at Raph. "What now?"  
"She's not coming back" he snarled.  
My gaze dropped to the floor. I had been so excited and interested in these guys that I had forgotten about reality and that I probably wouldn't be allowed back here.

"Wait, what?" Mikey was a mix of confused and upset.  
"SHE. CANNOT. COME BACK. How else can I say it so that you understand?"  
"But…but…"  
"Here, I'll say it in Spanish. NO!"  
Mikey turned toward his oldest brother. "…Leo?"  
He sighed.  
"Look Mikey, it's not safe for any of us if she keeps coming back here. She seems innocent-"  
"Pshh, okay." Raph mumbled.  
"BUT, what if someone catches her coming down here? We don't want the Foot finding our home, especially when we just relocated only a matter of months ago."

"You guys were attacked by the Foot?" I asked.  
Leo closed his eyes, annoyed that he just released another private piece of information about their lives.

Mikey was still caught up on the fact that their new guest would never be allowed to visit them again.  
"Donnie?"  
He rubbed his hand behind his head. "Mikey, she's a human. There's no way she could hang out with us without there being a huge risk of someone seeing and then going after her, or her exposing where our new home is and then someone coming after us. It increases every possibility of another Foot clan attack occurring here."  
"Yea but-"  
"Its fine" I butted in. He looked at me with worried eyes, so I put on my best fake smile, which at this point in life I had mastered. "Your brother's are right, plus I really have no right asking to stay after how and why I ended up getting to meet you guys." I could feel the sting from Raph's glares as I said this.

"Hey guys I have good news in regards to your thiieeee uhh…"  
Just then, a young woman who seemed to be in her mid to late twenties at the earliest entered the room. She was about my height with black hair and green eyes. She was wearing a yellow jacket over a grey t-shirt and jeans. Where the heck did she come from? And why was she allowed down here?

I pursed my lips together and made a gloomy expression. "Oh I get it, only the pretty girls get to hang out down here. Got it, message received" as I made the 'O.K.' symbol with my hands.  
The three oldest all groaned in annoyance.  
"Oh my gosh" as Raph made fists.  
"Seriously?" Leo was trying to remain calm.  
Donnie just looked around the room, not sure what to do or say.

The woman walked over to me. "Um, hi. You are?"  
I made a dull face. "Hi. I'm the biggest loser on the beach. They buried me in the sand and forgot me. What happened to you?"  
She looked confused, but still answered. "April O'Neil. Are you-"  
"She's not with us, in fact she's leaving" Raph said sourly.

"Oh, I thought you looked familiar. Nice to meet you" I said as I put my hand in front of me. She shook hands, but continued to give me a confused and freaked out expression.  
"Hey angel cakes! Meet our thief, Sam! Donnie tracked her down through security camera footage and from her school's attendance and academic records!"  
"Ahhh, so that's how he did it. I'll have to keep all that in mind next time."  
"There won't be a next time because you're leaving!"  
Mikey's brow furrowed in anger. "Dude chill!"

"OKAY!" Leo had had enough with this whole situation. He then turned towards me. "Look Sam, you even admitted that it's not safe for any of us if you keep coming here. Everything was straightened out, we got the drive back, and you apologized, so we're all good now. Thank you for cooperating with us, and now that we've all formally met, not really but whatever, I'm going to KINDLY" As he glared at his younger hot headed brother " ask you to leave now."

I nodded and made a small smile. "I understand, and thanks again, since you guys could have been way worse and way more violent in handling the situation, but you weren't. At least most of you weren't. Thanks for that. And thanks for letting me talk to you guys for a bit. And again I'm sorry for scaring you guys…and then for running, and then for attacking a couple of you."

I turned towards Mikey who had a depressed look on his face and sent him a small wave. "Nice meeting you" I said with a huge smile.  
"You to." He waved back and smiled, though his fake smile was extremely obvious.

I then went over to the entrance on the back wall, the way I had entered the room the first time I had ever been here. I got my board out and began to roll away as I reached into my bag for my phone so that I could use GPS to get back to my home. I couldn't believe that I would never get to see these guys again. For years I had been waiting for something amazing to happen, and when something incredibly awesome was finally and randomly thrown my way, it was ripped away from me just as quickly as it had been thrown. I could tell that my presence wasn't wanted there though. Red made it extremely obvious, but I could tell that the other two didn't really want me around either. At least Mikey was nice. I wish that I could at least have hung out with him one more time, I mean it's been so long since I was able to talk to someone so comfortably. But oh well, I guess this week long adventure has come to a close.  
_

Mikey stood there in amazement.  
"Someone finds us, accepts us, and is interested in us…and we basically just said screw you and kicked her out…"  
"It's about time to" Raph said with an evil grin as he headed towards his room, happy that the girl had finally left their home.  
Mikey began to make fists, furious with the way his brother had been acting towards the girl.

Leo sighed. "I'll catch you up on everything April" as he nodded towards the eatery. The two then sat down as he explained everything that had happened that night.

Donnie looked over towards his younger brother who was now sitting on the couch trying to calm himself. He walked over and sat down next to him, putting a hand his brother's shoulder.  
"Look Mikey, I didn't want to be too harsh or rude to her, but we still can't trust that girl. She had incredible accuracy when she aimed that cover at you, she was chucking bricks at Leo like they were stones, she owns a pair of tonfa that she can handle better than an average person, she can compete with me when it comes to codes and hacking, and she even jumped off of the van and onto the ladder on the back of a truck. She's obviously not a normal girl and we don't know why. She could have been putting on an act this whole time and really she could be working for the Foot. I doubt it, but you never know. It's just too risky to get close to her."

Mikey looked up at his older brother and nodded. "Yea. I know. It just sucks…"  
Donnie stood up and stretched. "Don't worry little bro, by morning I'm sure you'll have your mind wrapped around something new and totally crazy and you'll already have forgotten all about her." He smiled and pat his brother on the shoulder. "I'm calling it a night bro, see you in the morning."

Mikey also stood up and walked off towards his own bedroom. He kept a smile on his face until his bedroom door was shut. No matter how much he tried, he couldn't forget about the girl he had just met. She seemed nice and easy to talk to. There were many things that seemed off about her, but that made him think of her even more. He tried to think of ways that he could see her again. He sat up quickly, realizing that Donnie might still have the info from her school on his computers.

He got up and tip toed back to the lair. He peeked around the corner to see if anyone had been awake. April must have gone home and everyone else must have been asleep. Mikey snuck over to the collage of screens and played around some.

"Aha!" He pulled up some of the school footage of the girl. As he watched the videos, his smile slowly faded. In every one of these videos the girl was alone. While everyone else was talking and laughing with their group of friends, she was always sitting by herself. How could the girl who was just laughing and cracking jokes with him a minute ago look so depressed and miserable in almost every video? Eventually there were some clips where she was talking to some people, but once the class or club ended, she was always left alone again. He then looked through files until he found the one with her address on it. He had to see this girl again, something was off about her and he needed to figure out what it was.


	7. Chapter 7

**So this chapter has a few references to shows and people and things that Sam will state she is a fan of, I own NOTHING EXCEPT FOR MY OC. Any brands or names I mention DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Thank you and enjoy ^-^**

Chapter #7

It was about 8:00 that Saturday night and Mikey was patiently waiting for a good time for him to leave the lair. He wanted to see the girl from the night previous as soon as possible, but he had a hunch that his brothers wouldn't let him leave so easily. He had looked up events that were happening nearby so that he had an accurate alibi as to where he was going. He was just happy that it had been a pretty warm winter to spring season that year since the event he was pretending to go to was held outside, his brothers wouldn't have believed he would go if it was freezing outside. He had been sitting on the couch which was right by one of the exits. This spot was also facing the backs of Donnie who had been sitting in his skateboard chair in front of his collage of monitors, and of Leo who was taking care of his katana's at the eatery across the room. Mikey left the t.v. on as he slowly stood up and walked towards the exit way when suddenly he heard "and where do you think you're going?" He froze and then turned around to face Leo, who actually hadn't moved at all. Sometimes having ninjas as brothers really sucked.  
Mikey tried to stay calm and collected as he spoke.  
"Well, I read online that there's a movie set that was set up downtown earlier today, and I wanted to see what was going on. I wanted to see if I could get a sneak peek at whatever the new movie is going to be. That and I wanted to look at the hot actress babes" he said with a playful smile and two thumbs up.  
Leo paused. "Donnie."  
"On it" as the turtle began typing away on his computer. Within a couple minutes he had found a page from a local online newspaper company that had uploaded an article about a movie set being set up in New York. "Yup, there's a movie set downtown. The article talking about it is right here." He turned to face his eldest brother, nodding his head to state that their youngest brother's statement was true.  
Leo pursed his lips together and then faced the baby of the group. "Alright, so you're going by yourself?"  
Mikey nodded. "Yea, I just don't want to stay cooped up at home on a Saturday night y'know?"  
Leo continued to stare at his brother sternly. "You're going to stay in the shadows right?"  
"Of course."  
"So you're going to do everything to prevent yourself from being seen?"  
"Like always."  
"And you won't stay out to late?"  
"I would never!"  
"And you'll contact us if something goes wrong?"  
"YESSSS LEO! I'll be a perfect little angel" he said in a sarcastic tone. "And I'll make sure to stay away from strangers, and I'll look both ways before I cross the street, and-"

"Alright I get it." Even though he knew his brother was playfully mocking him, Leo still loved his brother's dorkiness and had to fight to not laugh at his brother's teasing. Donnie on the other hand had cracked as Leo heard him letting out some small chuckles from across the room.  
"Alright, see you dudes later. DEUCES!" And with that, Mikey pulled his board off his back and rolled on out of the lair.

Once it was quiet and it was known that their brother was out of hearing range, Donnie spun around in his chair to face his eldest brother. Just as he was about to speak, Raph came storming in from the entry way that Mikey had just used as an exit.  
"What's this bs about Mikey going out on his own?!"  
Leo sighed. "Raph, all of us are allowed to go out on our own once it's dark out."  
Raph glared back. "No shit, but why are we allowing him out on his own NOW? After what just happened yesterday? It's obvious he's going to meet that girl!"  
"Oh I know, and I'm wondering how dumb he thinks we are. That or he just doesn't care that we know where he's going."  
"Wait, you knew? Then why did you let him leave?"  
"Because he's the baby of four teenagers. As the baby he has become the most peaceful of us four, and as a teenager he's curious about everything which then leads him to be rebellious. I'm pretty confident he knows we know exactly where he's going, but he's going to push the limit as far as he can. Donnie?"  
He nodded. "I agree 110%. Mikey's smarter than he acts. Like you said, he's going to go as far with this as he possibly can."  
Raph had a mix of furry and worry building up inside him. "So we're just allowing this? We're not even going to try and stop this? We still don't know anything about this girl. What if yesterday was just an act and she acts like a jerk towards him tonight, he would break into a million pieces! He would be crushed! Or worse, what if she really is working for the Foot? What if she turns him in while we're all just sitting around relaxing? You two might be okay with this but I'm not." Leo stopped him before he could turn and walk out of the room. 

"Raph wait." The furious turtle paused and listened. "Look, we're all his older brothers and we're all worried about him, hell I don't know when we aren't. But we also have to trust him and give him a chance. Trust me when I say I feel the same way I do now as when we let him go out on his own for the first time. At the same time, I don't want to lose my brother because we didn't allow him to make his own decisions and give him a chance to learn lessons on his own."  
Raph paused for a bit, taking in Leo's words. He then turned towards Donnie, waiting for his take on the situation.  
Donnie put his hands up in defense. "Couldn't have said it better myself."  
Raph hated to admit it, really he HATED admitting defeat in anyway, but he knew Leo was right. He knew that Mikey deserved the right to grow up and learn on his own like the rest of them had, but what worried him was that Mikey might be blind to a criminals tricks because of him being to kind which could lead to him getting hurt, physically and emotionally. But in certain scenarios, maybe his youngest brother needed to experience this pain at some point to truly understand the viewpoints of the older brothers. God being an older brother sucked at times like this, especially when you're supposed to be the badass of the group yet you're getting so worried about your sensitive baby brother.

Raph calmed himself and turned around. He then began to walk back into the lair and then turned right, heading towards the far right wall where his workout area was located.  
"Fine. But if anything bad happens" he turned his head towards Leo "then you better be able to fix it."  
Leo took his brothers words in, praying that everything would be fine if they backed off and didn't restrict Mikey, leading him to soon getting bored of this rebellious behavior and eventually stopping it altogether. As he was thinking to himself, he heard a faint repeat of everything Raph had said whilst he had been in the room, followed by chuckles from Donatello.  
"Heh, next time he packs on me, I'll have my revenge."  
"DELETE IT NOW OR I'LL BASH YOUR FACE IN!"  
Without hesitation, Donnie sprinted out of the lair and into the hallways within the sewers with Raph not far behind him.  
Leo chuckled and shook his head. "One baby brother leaves, and the next one in line takes his place."

Sam was drying her hair in the bathroom down the hall from her room. She decided that tonight was going to be another mellow night filled with video games and graphic novels, so she had showered and gotten ready for bed early so that whenever she was ready she could just crash. She was still pretty depressed about being kicked out of the lair the previous night, that and she was still very sore. Once the adrenaline had stopped kicking in, the next morning she had woken up miserably from being sore. Her foot was swollen pretty badly and her face had some pretty bad bruises, but luckily she could cover that up with a crap ton of concealer. While she was brushing her hair she heard the alarms go off from the sensors near her window, someone was breaking into her room.  
She grabbed her pocket knife which she had left on the side of the sink and ran out of the room. When she got to her room, she was shocked at what she saw. Standing right by the window was Michelangelo, the youngest of the turtles she had met the other night. Once he saw that she had entered the room he threw his hands up in defense. She pulled her phone out from her pocket and silenced the alarm. 

He lowered his arms and stared at her. "Uh, hey? Hehe."  
She gave him a small smile. "So, how long have you been spying on me at school?"  
His eyes went wide. "How did you know I was watching videos of you at school?"  
"I didn't." She smiled as she shut her bedroom door. "Hey can you shut the window behind you?"  
Mikey stared at her in disbelief. "Dude, so not cool."  
"Hey, you climbed through the window, so you can shut it."  
"That's not what I meant" he said as he turned around and shut the windows and then the shades. 

Sam walked over and sat on her bed. "So, what has caused you to break into my room tonight good sir?" she said playfully. She nodded her head towards a bean bag chair that was along the same wall as the windows.  
He sat down and sighed. "I just, I just wanted to apologize for how my brother's and I treated you yesterday. You seem really nice and you didn't deserve that."  
Same was a bit shocked at how serious he was acting, especially after seeing how goofy he was the night previous.  
"Look, uh how do you want me to address you?"  
"Oh, ladies call me Mikey."  
Sam laughed lightly at hearing him using the plural of the word lady, since his brothers had made it clear that they've never met anyone except for that lady April.  
"Okay Mikey, I really appreciate you coming up here to talk to me, but you don't have to apologize. I wasn't exactly friendly towards you guys either and that's how all this started. But thanks for being the nice one and allowing me to share my side of the story as well."  
Mikey rubbed his hand on the back of his head. "Sadly I'm the one that kind of ruined everything since I'm the one who slipped and made you run. My brothers were actually going to try and talk peacefully with you if you would have allowed, but because of me you ran away, and then Raph knocked you out, and then you kicked me which scared the shit out of the others, and then Leo knocked you out and everything just kept spiraling out of control." 

"It's all good, I mean I'm the one that started the whole thing by stealing from you guys, so I completely understand them acting the way they did, and again I'm sorry for kicking you. How's your face?"  
Mikey lightly tapped his face where he had gotten hit. "This? Don't worry, that stopped hurting about 20 minutes or so after it happened." His smile then turned to a frown as he looked at the girls face. "I see your wounds are more noticeable though."  
Sam gave him a big smile. "Don't worry, it feels a lot better than it did earlier today, so already it's getting better. Plus this one is easier to cover up."  
"So what does that mean about your foot then?"  
"Sadly that one is still a bit bruised, but it's slowly starting to feel better."

They both gave each other small smiles, each happy that the other was feeling better from the injuries they had received from the night previous. 

**Theme: Taru-"I Wish You Were Here" audio  
Belle Epoque-"May" audio**

"So, do your brothers know that you're here?"  
"Welllll, yes and no."  
Sam raised an eyebrow, questioning what this meant.  
"I told them I was going to observe a movie set that's set up downtown, but I know they know that was a total lie. They definitely knew where I was going."  
"Wow, lying to your older brothers. Welcome to the club."  
He chuckled. "You lie to your older brothers?"  
"Mostly one in specific, but that's because I live with him. But I've lied to all of them at least once. I mean hey, it's not my fault that they won't let me do anything just because 'they've lived longer than me so they know better' and all that crap" she said in a mocking tone.  
"THANK YOU! That's literally one of the worst reasons to tell someone not to do something! Like Raph and Leo went out one night and when they got back they told me that I didn't need to go out on my own because 'nothing happened and I would just find it boring'," he mocked. "Like give me a break."  
"Ugh, that one is even worse!" Sam retorted. 

"So, how old are your seven other siblings?"  
Sam paused for a moment, using her fingers to count. "Okay, Jamie should be 27, Amber should be 25, Jay is 23, Brian should be 21, Nick should be 20, Haley should be 18, and Chuck should be 14."  
"Wait, they 'should' be those ages?" he questioned.  
"Hey! You try and remember seven people's birthdays and ages and then you can come complain to me!"  
He laughed. "So is Jay the brother you live with? Since he's the only one you said without the word 'should' after his name."  
"Yup! That browski is my roommate."  
"What about everyone else?"  
"It's…a really long and complicated story. Everyone is okay and all, we've just gone through some rough times. In the end I ended up living with my oldest brother, but overall everything is good. Heh, if you guys have any concerns about why I was able to fight the way I did, talk to Jay. He's the one who signed me up for self-defense classes."  
"Ahhhh! That explains a whole lot!" he joked. "What made him want you to do that though?"  
"Are you kidding me? You're a ninja who has fought the Foot, I'm sure you know that as great as New York is, there's also a lot of danger within this city as well."  
He chuckled. "Fair enough, hey is that Glenn on your shirt?" He pointed to the shirt she had on. The shirt had the word "Claimed" printed across the front with a picture of Glenn from The Walking Dead. 

Sam's face was filled with joy. "Yea, he's my favorite character, with Darryl following very closely behind him. You watch the show?"  
Mikey was ecstatic. "Heck yea! Right now my two favorites are tied between Carol and Abraham. Abraham is tough and has the best catch phrases ever, but man Carol is one of the most badass characters ever! Did you see how she saved everyone from Terminus?"

"That was insane! She literally blew up a ton of walkers and just walked in and rescued everyone. I've had a love hate feeling towards her character for a while now, but she officially won me back over after that performance!" 

Sam couldn't believe this conversation was actually being held. She NEVER got to rant or fangirl over anything ever unless Jay was with her, but finally she had found someone who had the same interests as her, and she soon would learn that this one show was just the beginning. Mikey noticed some graphic novels on a shelving unit nearby and gasped out loud, literally energetically slumped down and rolled out of the bean bag chair, and began looking through each one. 

"Dude, you read manga to?! Where have you been my whole life!?"  
"Says the guy who lives underground in the sewers."  
"….HAHA!" he laughed sarcastically as he still looked through the novels. "Do you watch the anime as well?"  
"Yea, I enjoy the anime more, but the manga comes out so much sooner. Like Attack On Titan is literally killing me right now!" She said as she flopped down on her bed.  
He groaned. "Tell me about it! Like all the fight scenes with the beast titan, and we now know who in the group is the armored and colossus titans, and even who a third titan is! It would be so awesome to see all of that in the anime, but it's taking forever!" 

He then noticed some video games next to the stack of graphic novels. He looked through the stack to see what she had and was shocked to see that they both played a lot of the same games. "Hey, which of these is your favorite?"  
Sam sat back up to see what he was talking about. "Kingdom Hearts. As shocking as that might sound, that series has always been my favorite. My younger brother and I got soooo into that series, it's crazy that we're STILL waiting for KH3, but hopefully that just means that the wait will be worth it."  
Mikey chuckled. "Of course your favorite is the one game I know nothing about."  
Sam's eyes went wide. "Do you know about Final Fantasy?"  
"Yes."  
"Do you know about Disney characters?"  
"Yes."  
"Combine the two, and you get Kingdom Hearts!" she said with a smile as she excitedly threw her hands up in the air. "You have time to play?"  
Mikey smiled, thrilled that Sam had basically just asked him to stay longer. "Yea I have time."  
"Great! Hand me the game and go grab a controller. I just got one of the latest editions where they've combined a bunch of the past games from different systems and merged them all onto one. 

The two played for hours and hours, not realizing how long they had actually been playing the game until they had finally beaten all of the original and remastered version of the first KH game.

"Hey, you have a curfew?" she asked him as she looked behind her at her alarm clock beside her bed.  
"Ummm, not exactly, as long as I don't stay out to late. Why?"  
"Because it's 2 in the morning."  
"UGHHH NOOOOO!" He quickly got up and grabbed his board which he had laid along the wall since after a while it made sitting in the bean bag chair rather uncomfortable.

Sam looked over and forced a smile, assuming that this would officially be the last time that she would ever get to see the orange sporting turtle.  
"Well thanks for stopping by." She tried to think of things to say without sounding desperate. She had loved his company, something that she rarely ever had in general, and the fact that she could talk so easily around him because of their multiple interests made her enjoy his company even more. She didn't want this to be known though, she didn't want to seem clingy or annoying, but she really would have loved to have hung out with him again.  
"Um, if you ever want to see how the rest of the series plays out then my windows always open, hehe" she said nervously. 

Mikey deadpanned and stared at her with wide eyes. "You mean, you're cool if I come back?"  
"Yea of course, I don't get visitors often, so this was really fun" she said with an honest smile.  
Mikey then thought back to the video footage Donnie had hacked into from the high school and remembered how lonely the girl looked, and then realized that she had done nothing but smile ever since she entered the room hours ago.  
"Ummm" Sam interrupted his thoughts. "I mean, I understand if you're busy though, I don't want you to feel like you have to come back or anything, and-"  
"I'll be back" he said with a smile. "But if it's ever a bad time then just let me know. Kay?"  
She smiled back and made an 'O.K' symbol with her hand before she spoke again.  
"Oh, just a heads up, knock on the window next time so that the alarm doesn't go off. And if the blinds are shut, then just give me a sec and then I'll let you in."  
Mikey nodded. "Got it, knock on the window and no peeping. Understood! You free tomorrow?"  
"Yup, homework is done and I study earlier in the day. Same time?"  
He pointed at her with enthusiasm. "Same time. Well, see you tomorrow then." And with that, he opened the window, ran across the walkway, and jumped onto his board with the rockets on the sides helping allow him to glide down to the ground. 

Sam walked over and shut the window and re-set the alarm. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop smiling. For the first time in years she had felt a happiness that had been stolen from her a long while ago. Besides for Jay who was rarely ever home, she never got to just talk and hangout with someone the way she had with Mikey that night. And he wanted to come back, that's the part that amazed her the most. Everyone else in the world had cast her out and wanted nothing to do with her, and the only time anyone ever approached her was to ask for a favor of some sort. But Mikey had taken the time to find her and then took the time to actually sit down and talk to her. As Sam turned off the lights and crawled under her covers, she tried to fight to think of something else besides Michelangelo so that when she woke up the next morning her brother wouldn't question her as to why she couldn't stop smiling. He would excitedly question her and then he would freak out if he discovered it was because of a boy. Eventually Sam fell asleep with a small smile still displayed across her face. She just couldn't get over the fact that for two days in a row she would get to hang out with a new friend.

**So if you're still reading my story up to this point, I just want to say thank you for continuing to give my story a chance, and also thank you for being so patient. I wanted to be uploading chapters quicker than I have been, but some day's life is busier than others. But to those who are still reading, thank you so much. If anyone has any suggestions as to how I can improve then I'm always up for kind constructive criticism ******


	8. Chapter 8

Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.

Chapter #8

Sam hadn't realized what time it was when she heard a knock on her window. She was in front of her desk where her t.v. sat when to her left at the window was a smiling Michelangelo. A smile also began to grow on her face as she gave him the O.K. symbol and he opened the window. He opened the window and climbed on through, leaning his skateboard against an open space along the wall.  
"Hey toots, you forget about me already?"  
She snickered. "Right, because an almost 6 foot turtle is so easy to forget."  
"Well you're the one who left the window closed."  
"Not because I forgot about you, I just lost track of time."  
"Mhm, right, I see how it is" he teased. "What are you listening to?"  
"Oh, the song playing right now? It's called "Obsession" by G-Dragon."  
"And that would be?"  
Sam gave him a wicked smile. "See, if I tell you, then that means you have to allow me to rant on and fangirl for a while, as in I can't just simply say who he is, you'll have to listen to the whole story."  
Mikey put his fingers on his chin, jokingly questioning the situation. "Hmmmm, I guess I have the time to listen to your rant."  
Sam's eyes went wide. "REALLY?!"  
"Really" he smiled.  
Sam then went on to tell Mikey everything she knew about G-Dragon and Big Bang, the music group he was a member of. She told him all she knew and even showed him many of their music videos, which eventually lead to her showing him many of their funny moment videos. Within that same hour, Mikey had quickly become a fan of the group. He and his brothers loved listening to new groups and types of music and experimenting with what they did and didn't like, and right now he definitely liked this group.  
"So, do you like older groups and songs? Since according to this Wikipedia page, the album with this song came out in 2009."  
"Well, with this album specifically I just love a lot of the songs and the uniqueness to them, like it's hard to believe that these songs came out in 09. But I'll honestly admit that I'm all over the place when it comes to knowing songs, groups, and individual members and who and what belongs where. I'm a fan of some groups who have been around for a while, but I'm also a fan of some more 'recent' groups. Like I love Super Junior who debuted in 2005, but lately I've been focusing on BTS a lot more than anyone else."  
"I guess you'll introduce me to those groups another day then?"  
Sam smiled, if he held true to his comment, then that meant there would be more days where the two would be hanging out. "Yea haha, I don't want my fangirling to scare you away so soon."  
"Well, how about I introduce you to a group that I'm a fan of then?"  
"Alright, sounds fair. I've done my fangirling, now you show me who you fanboy over."  
He laughed. "Since you've introduced me to an Asian group, I'll continue that trend." He currently was sitting on the bean bag chair which he had moved closer to the bed as the two had been watching and dancing to music videos that Sam was streaming on her television. Sam tossed her phone down to Mikey who began typing, and soon a music video popped up, one that ironically was familiar to Sam.  
"Oh, I know this song!"  
"NO WAY! You listen to One Ok Rock?!"  
"Not religiously, but I know some songs, this one being my favorite."  
The two then sang along with and danced to "The Beginning" by One Ok Rock, followed by more partying to multiple other songs by the same group. 

"This is awesome!" Sam then plugged her phone in as the battery was getting low. "No one EVER has the same music interests as me, and when I show them the music I like, they just brush it off like it's horrible just because it's in another language."  
"Well not this guy!" he said with excitement. "I'll give anything a shot!" He then looked over at the television and noticed that the DVD player had the words "PAUSE" across it.  
"Hey Sam, what were you doing before I got here?"  
She looked in the same direction he was. "I was going to start watching the beginning of a new movie that I've been dying to see."  
"What movie?"  
"Naruto: The Last Movie."  
Mikey gasped and clapped his hands to his cheeks. "You have it on DVD?! Is it subbed or dubbed?!"  
"Dubbed."  
"HOW DID YOU GET IT?! I've wanted to watch it but I wanted to watch it on t.v. and not on a computer screen."  
She laughed. "I put in a request at the library forever ago and finally it was my turn to take it home."  
"Can…can we watch it now?" he asked timidly.  
"Oh my god yes! Like I would love to watch it with someone else. I was going to secretly watch it by myself and pretend I was watching it for the first time once I finally got to watch it with Jay, but this would be way more fun!"  
"Sweet!" he shouted as he ran over to the bed, halting right before he was about to leap onto it.  
Sam tilted her head in confusion. "What's wrong? I just showered a few hours ago."  
He rapidly shook his head. "No that's not why I stopped you smell fine! Just, I didn't want to just sit on your bed or assume that I'm allowed to or anything and I just don't want to be rude and…yea." 

Sam gave him a blank face and then goofily scooted over while maintaining the same expression, leaving an open space on the other side of the bed. She then put her left arm out and raised her eyebrows at him.  
He stared at her in disbelief. "…Me?"  
She gave him a puzzled look with a smile. "Who else? Just take your shoes off."  
"What's wrong with my shoes?"  
"They touch the ground."  
"So?"  
"I don't want dirt on my bed!" she laughed.  
He shrugged. "Fair enough" he said as he kicked off his shoes and sat down next to her. 

The two then watched the movie, every once in a while making comments about how much they shipped NaruHina, or cracking some type of joke about the film. 

Mikey pointed towards the screen. "Hey look! Sasuke is in the film for a whole ten seconds!"  
Then later on it was her turn.  
"Look! He's in the film for another ten seconds!"  
The two hadn't realized how late it was until after the film had ended. 

Sam frowned. "Dang, its 12a.m. already. I need to get to sleep so I can wake up at a decent time tomorrow for school."  
"I guess that means I have to wait until the weekend to see you again, right? Because every night will be a school night?"  
"Um, actually, I usually don't have a lot of homework each night, and it isn't AP testing season just yet, so most nights I'll be able to hangout. Sadly you'd have to come over kind of late most nights though, and you would have to leave kind of early as well." Sam rubbed the back of her neck. "I doubt you want to make the trip up here just to have to leave so soon."  
Playfully, he gave her a confused look. "Did you book me for events that I don't know about?"  
"You would come all the way up here just to hangout for a couple of hours?"  
"Totally dude, you're really chill and easy and fun to talk to. The only issue is if my brothers need me. Like if there's a Foot clan attack somewhere, then I need to be there stopping them with my bros."  
Sam was shocked. "You guys fight the Foot huh? That's insane, in a good way of course. You have a phone of any kind?"  
Mikey reached into his right pocket and pulled out what looked like a hand-sized turtle shell. When he pressed a button on the flat side of the shell, a screen turned on.  
"Donnie made these for us, we call them shell cells. They pretty much work like regular cell phones."  
Sam took the phone, impressed with its design. It would be cool to talk to the nerdy brother, but she knew that would never happen. Sam then began looking for a 'contacts' app to click on in order to prevent herself from thinking about how the other brothers had treated her a few nights previous. She entered her number into the phone and then used it to call her own phone. After a few seconds, her phone began to ring.  
"Alright, now we can communicate with each other. If the other doesn't pick up when they're sent a message, then we know that they're busy."  
Mikey's face then displayed a mischievous smile. "Heh, now I have two girls phone numbers" he said, putting two thumbs up.  
Sam responded with pursed lips while slowly shaking her head. "Wow, such a player. Two whole girls."  
"Hey! For a turtle who lives in the sewers, that's pretty good!"  
She laughed. "Yea I guess so. Well, hopefully see you tomorrow?"  
He held up his phone. "I'll be waiting for that text. Unless time gets away from you again."  
"*sigh* you're never going to let me live that down now, are you?"  
"Nope! Goodnight!" he said with a smile as he opened the window and climbed through, and that fast he was gone. As Sam turned off the lights in her room, she hoped that she would be able to see her friend again the next night, and she wondered if he thought of her as a friend as well.

The rest of that week, Sam and Mikey had continued to meet up with each other. Even on Wednesday and Thursday when there had been some gangs trying to rob a few banks and the turtles had stopped them late into the night, Mikey still stopped by for a few minutes to let his new friend know he was alright, and also just to say hi. It was now Friday night and Mikey was heading over to her house once again. At this point his brothers didn't even ask him where he was off to, they just hoped that he wasn't doing anything stupid. 

For most of that first week their wishes had been answered since the new friends had just been hanging out at Sam's apartment the whole time. Jay was rarely there, so the two were able to venture around the rest of the apartment and not just the one bedroom. On Monday the two had an intense nerf gun battle after Mikey had learned how to secretly add healthier ingredients to his pizza and then helped Sam bake a few batches of cookies. On Tuesday, Mikey helped Sam work on some projects she needed to complete for the many clubs she was a member of in the kitchen where they had more table space, and on Wednesday and Thursday the two played video games on the larger television in the living room with the little time they had. He assumed that tonight would be no different, but he was shocked when he climbed through the open window and saw that Sam was completely dressed with a small back pack on her back.  
He knocked on the side of the wall. Sam turned around and smiled. "Ayeee."  
"Hey, you going somewhere?"  
"WE are going somewhere, yes. Thank you for asking." 

Sam was wearing a long sleeve dark red shirt and navy blue track sweatpants with a beanie on her head sporting the same colors. In her back pack was her basic necessities, her tonfa, a phone and tablet, her camera detector, and attached to the back was her skateboard.  
"Uhhhh" Mikey said in a confused high pitched tone "I can't really go anywhere, ever."  
Sam was confused. "Why not? You're a ninja right?"  
"Yea, but I still look like this" he said as he held up his hand and wiggled his three fingers.  
"Well, blend in with the shadows like you usually do."  
"Where are we going anyway? And why?"  
"We've been meeting up in the same apartment building all week. It's been fun, but it's Friday night! Who wants to stay locked up at home on a weekend night?"  
"Me, which is what I've been doing all my life."  
"Well, you're friends with me now, so you don't have to do that any…more…" Sam was confused as to why the turtle in front of her was just staring blankly at her. She then realized for the first time since they had met that one of them had officially called the other a friend. She paused, afraid that he might want to run off now that she had given a title to their relationship, but to her amusement he just turned around and shouted "Alright lead the way!" 

Sam fought to conceal her smile as she realized his reaction was one of amazement and joy. She was still getting used to the fact that this new friendship made him as happy as it had made her. 

**Theme: Marshmello-Ritual  
**

Mikey climbed out the window and then jumped onto a ladder on the building across from where he was. He slid down the ladder and was waiting on the ground for Sam when he heard his phone go off. He read the message: _Hey I'm up top. Where are you?"  
_

"What?..." He looked up and saw Sam waving her hand over the side of the top of the building. He pulled his board from off his back and hopped on as he used it to glide up to the top of the building. 

"What are you doing up here?" he asked once he reached the top of the building.  
"Waiting for you! What were you doing down there? Hmph, and you were the one worried about getting caught" she said as she shook her head.  
Michelangelo looked around, wondering how the heck they were going to move around when they were so high up. Wait…she couldn't mean… 

"Are we jumping buildings?" he asked with wide eyes.  
"Try to keep up!" she shouted as she ran forward.  
"Sam, wait!" But before he could say anything to her, she had already run and leaped over to the next building. She skid to a stop once she stuck her landing on the roof. She looked over and smiled towards her friend, waiting for him to come join her. Quickly he ran over and with ease he jumped onto the same roof, but he was furious rather than happy.  
"What the heck was that? Are you crazy?"  
Her smile faded. "No, maybe when I first started doing this yes, but it's easy now. I mean not as easy as it is for you since you're taller than me, and ripped, but it's still a lot easier than it used to be haha."  
"You…you've done this before? For how long?"  
"About four years. I'm on my own a lot now, so I have to go find fun things to do on my own, that and being alone has increased my adrenaline seeking tendencies. That's pretty much the main reason I met you guys in the first place."  
Mikey was shocked, both about the fact that there was still so much he didn't know about this girl and also at how much she could do. He knew his brothers were right about her being able to do things that no normal person usually could. Was all that she had learned really taught to her in a self-defense class? Then again, maybe there was just a lot more to the story than he knew. Either way, he still wanted to be friends with this girl and he hoped that maybe one day he would know all the details as to how she was who she was, but for now he just wanted to help make sure she got to wherever their destination was safely. 

"Alright, lead the way. But I'm literally going to be right behind you! Okay?"  
She nodded. "Gotcha!"  
Sam was happy that he trusted her and wasn't questioning her about her past while being protective of her at the same time.  
"Here, we'll be heading in this direction for a while" and with that Sam ran ahead and leaped from roof top to roof top. 

For about 20 minutes the two constantly moved along the rooves of many of the buildings throughout the city. A few times there were moments where the two had to climb up or down, but overall they kept moving at a constant quick paced rate. Finally they reached a shorter building that was in a more vacant location in the city. Mikey wasn't sure what exactly this building was for or why they were there, but he was assuming that Sam's huge smile meant that something fun was in store for them. 

Sam walked over to a vent and pulled open the cover. She waved her friend over and then she slipped down inside the tunnel of the vent. She pushed her hands and feet against the sides of the vent and slowly began moving down the tunnel. She would slide her feet down some, then her hands, and she continued to alternate until she was at the bottom of the tunnel. She turned back to see if Mikey was following her. He looked confused, but he was still patiently trailing behind her. She then began crawling forward, and for a few minutes or so the two continued to follow this pattern. Eventually Sam stopped and then pulled her phone out of her back pack. 

"Hey, why did we stop?"  
"We're above the room that controls all the security cameras throughout this building. I need to set all the cameras back a couple of hours so that no one knows we were ever here. Don't worry it will only take a few minutes and then we'll be free to move around."  
He laughed. "You literally sound like Donnie right now."  
"Then that means your brother must be a genius."  
"Oh he is! Like he would probably freak out if he was able to talk to someone about tech stuff like this."  
Sam chuckled, but she knew that would never happen. As much as she would also love to talk to someone else about technology, she knew that Donnie wanted as little to do with her as possible, just like all the remaining brothers did. But she shook her head and ignored these thoughts and went back to focusing on hacking into the buildings security system and editing the camera footage.  
"Alright, time to move on. Just a bit further and then we can get out of this vent."  
The two crawled forward a bit more and finally Sam opened up one of the covers in the vent. She crawled forward and turned around to face Mikey who was cautiously staying still.  
"What's wrong?" she asked with concern.  
"Won't there be people wondering around? I can't be seen, I can't risk exposing my brothers and putting my family in danger…"  
Sam crouched down so that she was at eye level with her friend who was still in the vent tunnel.  
"So I've been on my own for a long while now, and I've explored A LOT of different places, including this one. For four years I've snuck in here on weekend nights. One of the reasons being that I thought the prices for a membership here are ridiculous, and the other being that I've never had someone to bring with me. Within the four years that I've been sneaking in here I've learned that the owner closes this place early each night at about 7:00 because he doesn't want teenagers wrecking the place, since apparently young people go crazy at nighttime according to him, which honestly isn't an inaccurate thought. I mean some of the kids from school that come here are freaking insane. Anyway, the owner's house is located further towards the center of the city and it would take him a long time to get out here. Plus, since we're not in a huge crime ridden area and also since the owner doesn't really keep any money here, there's no security outside, only during work hours when this place is open. I've scoped this place out hung out here countless times and" as she knocked on the wall "I've yet to get caught. Don't worry, I wouldn't bring you here if there was a high chance of your identity being exposed."  
Mikey looked up at her and smiled. He was grateful that she had put so much thought into their get together, and this also helped him in feeling more comfortable with her and in gaining his trust. 

As he crawled out of the vent and stood up, his jaw dropped as he finally got to look around and see where they were. The building was much larger than just this room when looking at it from the outside which meant that there had to be many other rooms besides the one they were in, but at that moment the two friends were standing inside a huge indoor skate park. Mikey couldn't believe his eyes. As much as he loved to skate board, he had never gotten a chance to go to an actual skate park. The only way he was ever able to practice was by skating along the rounded walls and along the pipes in the sewers underground, but this place was obviously a million times better.  
"Woooooow, this place is incredible!"  
"Heh, I had a feeling you'd like it."  
"So, are you going to show me your awesome moves?"  
She gave him a blank stare. "Uhhh, I like to skate and stuff, but I'm no Tony Hawk or Rob Dydrek. Honestly I've always been more of a speed skater, I don't really know how to do tricks or anything."  
"Well guess who has two thumbs and is super freaking awesome at everything related to skateboarding…THIS GUY!" he shouted as he pointed his thumbs to himself.  
"Alright then Mr. Super freaking awesome, show me watcha got."  
"Oh I accept that challenge ma'am!" 

He then grabbed his board and began skating all throughout the various vert and mini ramps throughout the park. He quickly went around and started doing all types of tricks. Sam knew a few tricks, but honestly she had no idea what the heck any of them were called, she just practiced some stuff she saw online until she got more comfortable with it. As the two skated around, they would talk as they happened to pass each other or as they stalled on the ramps. 

Sam rolled up to the top of one of the ramp and stayed still while balancing on the nose of the board.  
"Hey, what happened to not knowing any tricks?" Mikey asked as he rolled up and performed the same pose next to her, and then rolled off.  
Sam made a confused face. "This is a trick? All I did was stop at the top of the ramp" she stated as she followed behind him.  
"Yea, but stopping at the top of the ramp has a name, that one was called a nose stall."  
"Oh, so this is a nose stall?" She did the same thing, but this time she stopped on the tail of the board.  
"No, that one's a tail stall, see?" as he followed behind her and repeated the same move that she just had.  
"I honestly don't see a difference."  
"The first time you stopped on the nose of the board, this time you stopped on the tail. Does that make sense?"  
He demonstrated a few more times and eventually she finally understood.  
"Okay, then does this have a name?"  
She then skated to the top of the ramp and stopped with the middle part of the bottom of the board staying on the ramp. Mikey rolled up and did the same thing. "Axle stall."  
The two rolled off. Sam watched as Mikey was able to hop and get his board off the ground.  
"Does hopping have a name to?"  
Mikey then repeated the move. "That one was an ollie, because I used the tail of the board to jump off the ground."  
"Oh, oh! Okay watch this then." Sam then hopped off the ground, but this time she did so using the nose of the board. "Let me guess, was that a nollie?"  
He gave her two thumbs up as he rolled by her. "There you go!"  
She then watched as he rolled up to the top of a ramp and then flip the board around before riding back down.  
"That was a pivot right?"  
He shook his head and smiled. "Nope! Kick-flip!" as he went up another ramp and did the same thing. "Nice try though."  
"Hmmmm okay, let me guess the name of this one." She then rolled up to a rail and glided across using the bottom of the board. "That was grinding, right?"  
Again Mikey smiled as he shook his head. "No, THIS-" as he rolled up to the adjacent rail and glided across using the axles of the board "-Is grinding. What you did was a rail slide."  
She threw her hands up in confusion. "What's the difference?"  
He stopped his board and faced her. "You glided across using the deck, I used the axles."  
"…what's the deck?"  
He laughed. "It's just another term for the board itself. Try to grind again."  
Sam then rolled up and used the back axle to glide across the rail.  
Mikey cheered for her. "There you go!"  
Sam looked over at him and smiled. "So, would that be a tail grind? Since I used the back axle?"  
"There's no such thing as a tail grind!" he laughed "That was a 5-0 grind."  
"Oh okay, so then this-" as she rolled up and used the underside of the tail of the board to glide across the rail "is called a 5-0 slide, right?"  
Mikey couldn't keep himself from laughing as he shook his head. "Tail slide!"  
"Then what is a 5-0 slide?"  
"That doesn't exist!"  
"OH MY GOD I'M DONE!" she yelled playfully as she threw her hands up in the air.  
"Dude, how do you know how to do all this stuff but you don't know any of the terminology?"  
"I don't know, I just go with the flow I guess. Like when people teach themselves how to play an instrument but they don't actually know all the note names."  
"Fair enough, but what happened to not knowing any tricks? You've already demonstrated a bunch of them!"  
"I didn't really consider these tricks, I feel like tricks are way more complicated."  
"Heh, I can't wait to hear what you think the complicated moves are named."  
"I REPEAT I'M DONE!" she playfully shouted, and just as she did so, her board slid out from under her. She stumbled and fell back, but they both were able to see her board go flying straight up into the air and then land perfectly right into a bag-less trash can.  
"Goalllllll!" she shouted!  
"Ayeee cowabunga!" he shouted as he sat down at the top of one of the mini ramps.  
She looked over at him as she quickly ran up the ramp to retrieve her board. "Cowabunga?"  
"Yea! Got a problem with it? And if you do, then you're as bad as Raph!"  
She gave him a serious yet still playful look. "Okay listen up. 1. I don't have a problem with it, it was just random as hell. 2. Gee, thanks for the compliment" she said in a sarcastic tone.  
"1. You're welcome! 2. I take random as a compliment ma'am."  
"Well then you're also welcome for your compliment, sir. What is with guys and weird sayings anyway?"  
"What other weird sayings are you used to?"  
"Whenever my younger brother scored playing sports or if he got the new high score in a video game, he would always scream 'booyakasha.' What the hell is that?!"  
Mikey burst out laughing which lead him to fall and roll down into the center of the ramp.  
"Dude your younger brother sounds amazing!"  
Sam rolled her eyes and smiled as she pulled her board out of the bin it had landed in. 

For the next two hours the two friends continued to skate around, occasionally teasing Sam on her lack of knowledge when it came to skateboarding terminology. Once their time was up, the two packed up their belongings and went back to the vent where they had entered the room. They climbed their way back to the vent opening on the roof, making sure to alter all the cameras again before they left. Since neither of the two were really in a rush, they decided to walk back to the apartment, talking the entire way back as they continued to get to know each other.

"Hey Sam, when's your birthday?"  
"April 4th."  
"Oh! So you just recently turned 16 then?"  
"Yup! How about you? When's your birthday?"  
"February 2nd."  
"So you're not that far behind me then. You were born in 99 though, right?"  
"Yea, how about you?"  
"98, so I'm not that much older than you guys, oh, assuming that you guys all have the same birthday."  
"We do actually. Donnie looked into what he could find from the old files that April could find on us from the TCRI experiments and we all actually are blood related and were born the exact same day and in the order that we thought. When we were kids, there were times when we were curious about whether we all actually were related to each other or not since physically we have similarities, like how me and Leo have the exact same eye color and then Raph's match Donnie's spot on, but personality wise each of us are so different. There were also times when we weren't sure who was actually the oldest. For example, Donnie can sometimes be wise and calm like Leo, plus he's been the tallest of us four for a long time now, so we all wondered if he could actually be one of the oldest of us four. There were other times where we wondered if Raph was the oldest because he's always been the strongest. But regardless of these curious thoughts, somehow our instincts helped us know who was really the oldest to youngest, but it was nice to officially know that we are all blood related and the order of our births though." 

Sam smiled as she looked over at him. She was walking along his left side, so she was able to see his left shoulder where his shell tattoo was.  
"I still can't believe you have that."  
"What?" he said tilting his head to the side.  
"A tattoo. Like, I just can't believe you guys learned how to do all that, and they look really good to!"  
"Dawwww you're to kind miss."  
"Do your brothers have any? And who printed them?"  
"Oh yeah! Leo has another shell tattoo like this on his right arm, and he also has a tattoo on his left bicep of turtles in a row with lines above and below them. The one on his bicep is a design that he made when he was younger so the design means a lot to him. Raph has a shell tattoo on his shoulder to, but of course the design is a bit different because he had to go be soooo cool and be different, pfftt! Whatever" he said as he rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Raph printed ALL the shell tattoos, but Leo printed the one on his left bicep with a little help from Raph, and I printed the one on my wrist all by myself."  
"I guess Donnie doesn't have any?"  
"He does actually! He has a smaller shell tattoo like this one on the top of his left shoulder, he just has so much gear on all the time that you can never see it."  
"Wow, just from what you've told me this past week, I thought he would be a total health freak and wouldn't let a needle anywhere near his skin."  
Mikey chuckled. "You're spot on when you say that, that's why he ONLY has the shell tattoo, and it's the smallest of all four of our shell tattoos. But we've all seen the shell tat as a symbol that represents our family, that's the sole reason he allowed it. The rest of us have at least one other, but he would only allow that one."  
"So then what's the meaning of this one?" I asked as I pointed to the cursive writing on his left wrist.  
"Honestly that was a mix of me being extremely proud of myself both for learning how to print my own tattoo AND for learning how to write in cursive. Our dad taught us…basically everything we've ever really learned, but I was always the last one to really understand anything, so this tattoo was pretty much me rewarding and praising myself for learning the two skills."  
"That's really cool" I said with a beaming smile. "I love hearing stories about meaningful tattoos. Again this is just my personal opinion, but I just don't get the point in getting a ton of random tattoos, but I think meaningful tattoos are really nice. Ha, is there a reason for your brother branding kanji on his shoulder?"  
"Oh no that one's is just him trying to look super cool. Like even Leo who's all for tattoos thought he was crazy for that one." We both had to cover our mouths so that we didn't laugh too loud in the middle of the night.  
"Does the kanji have a relative meaning to his life or anything at least?"  
He nodded. "That I can luckily say yes to. It matches the kanji on the top of his bandana."  
My eyebrows rose in surprise. "I never realized he had kanji on the top of his head."  
"Really? I guess you didn't notice mine then either."  
"No! Where is it?"  
He stopped and held the end of the left strap of his bandana so that the cloth was flat so that the kanji was visible.  
"Whoa! I never noticed that until now! Do all four of you have this as well?"  
"Yup! Leo's is on the right side near his eyes and it stands for 'patience,' Raph's kanji on his shoulder and on the top of his bandana reads 'anger' and the kanji on his right strap reads 'beast,' Donnie's kanji on his left strap stands for 'bright' and he also has a small turtle print above it, and then MINE stands for 'heart' which I have a lot of because I'm just incredibly amazing. I guess I should also point out that there's kanji painted on the back of my shell as well."  
"NO THERE'S NOT!"  
"SHHHH!"  
"Dude…I swear I've been living under a rock. How have I not noticed any of this?!"  
"Because you weren't looking for it, but now you are!"  
"Wow, I was not expecting this Psychology 101 type of info today. I was un-prepared."  
"Hehe, oh hey there's a ladder coming up, if you put my board in your bag then I can carry you up."  
I nodded as he handed me his board. It was as I was securing his board to the straps on the back of my bag that I noticed the writing on the back of his shell for the first time. I hopped up onto his back as I carefully swung my arms around his neck and held on as he climbed up the ladder to the roof of the building.  
"So what does it stand for then?"  
"Mine stands for 'child,' a perfect fit for me if I do say so myself" he chuckled.  
"Mine? So your brothers have spray paint on their shells as well?"  
"Leo and Raph do. Leo has 'honor' painted in blue on his shell, and Raph has 'family' in red on the back of his. Hehe, Leo can write in Japanese perfectly, but when it comes to paint he just can't keep himself from making mistakes, so don't tell anyone this, but because I had to paint the kanji on Raph's shell I secretly wrote 'Mikey's the best' in really small Japanese characters in brown on his shell in a really hard to see spot."  
"Damn, and I thought branding kanji into your skin was badass, but this totally tops everything you've said about your brothers! But don't worry your secret is safe with me."  
As we reached the top of the building, he put me down and put his knuckles out for a fist bump. "Thanks bruh."  
I returned the gesture. "Cowabunga!"  
"Booyakasha!" 

It only took a few more minutes and the two had reached the apartment. It had gotten pretty late by the time they returned home, time passing by much quicker since they made the decision to walk home. The last few minutes continued to be filled with nothing but kind and humorous conversation between the two friends, both enjoying the others company. Mikey slowly began to notice that Sam asked a lot more questions and did a lot more listening than making comments about her own family and life, but he also assumed this was because he was a giant mutant turtle. Most people would probably want to talk more about that than everyday life. Once they reached the apartment the two said their goodbyes and decided to call it a night, but both couldn't wait for the following night, hoping that they would get to hangout and have another great night goofing off together just like they had tonight.


	9. Chapter 9

**So this chapter has a few references to shows and people and things that Sam will state she is a fan of, I own NOTHING EXCEPT FOR MY OC. Any brands or names I mention DO NOT BELONG TO ME. Thank you and enjoy ^-^**

Chapter #7

It was about 8:00 that Saturday night and Mikey was patiently waiting for a good time for him to leave the lair. He wanted to see the girl from the night previous as soon as possible, but he had a hunch that his brothers wouldn't let him leave so easily. He had looked up events that were happening nearby so that he had an accurate alibi as to where he was going. He was just happy that it had been a pretty warm winter to spring season that year since the event he was pretending to go to was held outside, his brothers wouldn't have believed he would go if it was freezing outside. He had been sitting on the couch which was right by one of the exits. This spot was also facing the backs of Donnie who had been sitting in his skateboard chair in front of his collage of monitors, and of Leo who was taking care of his katana's at the eatery across the room. Mikey left the t.v. on as he slowly stood up and walked towards the exit way when suddenly he heard "and where do you think you're going?" He froze and then turned around to face Leo, who actually hadn't moved at all. Sometimes having ninjas as brothers really sucked.  
Mikey tried to stay calm and collected as he spoke.  
"Well, I read online that there's a movie set that was set up downtown earlier today, and I wanted to see what was going on. I wanted to see if I could get a sneak peek at whatever the new movie is going to be. That and I wanted to look at the hot actress babes" he said with a playful smile and two thumbs up.  
Leo paused. "Donnie."  
"On it" as the turtle began typing away on his computer. Within a couple minutes he had found a page from a local online newspaper company that had uploaded an article about a movie set being set up in New York. "Yup, there's a movie set downtown. The article talking about it is right here." He turned to face his eldest brother, nodding his head to state that their youngest brother's statement was true.  
Leo pursed his lips together and then faced the baby of the group. "Alright, so you're going by yourself?"  
Mikey nodded. "Yea, I just don't want to stay cooped up at home on a Saturday night y'know?"  
Leo continued to stare at his brother sternly. "You're going to stay in the shadows right?"  
"Of course."  
"So you're going to do everything to prevent yourself from being seen?"  
"Like always."  
"And you won't stay out to late?"  
"I would never!"  
"And you'll contact us if something goes wrong?"  
"YESSSS LEO! I'll be a perfect little angel" he said in a sarcastic tone. "And I'll make sure to stay away from strangers, and I'll look both ways before I cross the street, and-"

"Alright I get it." Even though he knew his brother was playfully mocking him, Leo still loved his brother's dorkiness and had to fight to not laugh at his brother's teasing. Donnie on the other hand had cracked as Leo heard him letting out some small chuckles from across the room.  
"Alright, see you dudes later. DEUCES!" And with that, Mikey pulled his board off his back and rolled on out of the lair.

Once it was quiet and it was known that their brother was out of hearing range, Donnie spun around in his chair to face his eldest brother. Just as he was about to speak, Raph came storming in from the entry way that Mikey had just used as an exit.  
"What's this bs about Mikey going out on his own?!"  
Leo sighed. "Raph, all of us are allowed to go out on our own once it's dark out."  
Raph glared back. "No shit, but why are we allowing him out on his own NOW? After what just happened yesterday? It's obvious he's going to meet that girl!"  
"Oh I know, and I'm wondering how dumb he thinks we are. That or he just doesn't care that we know where he's going."  
"Wait, you knew? Then why did you let him leave?"  
"Because he's the baby of four teenagers. As the baby he has become the most peaceful of us four, and as a teenager he's curious about everything which then leads him to be rebellious. I'm pretty confident he knows we know exactly where he's going, but he's going to push the limit as far as he can. Donnie?"  
He nodded. "I agree 110%. Mikey's smarter than he acts. Like you said, he's going to go as far with this as he possibly can."  
Raph had a mix of furry and worry building up inside him. "So we're just allowing this? We're not even going to try and stop this? We still don't know anything about this girl. What if yesterday was just an act and she acts like a jerk towards him tonight, he would break into a million pieces! He would be crushed! Or worse, what if she really is working for the Foot? What if she turns him in while we're all just sitting around relaxing? You two might be okay with this but I'm not." Leo stopped him before he could turn and walk out of the room. 

"Raph wait." The furious turtle paused and listened. "Look, we're all his older brothers and we're all worried about him, hell I don't know when we aren't. But we also have to trust him and give him a chance. Trust me when I say I feel the same way I do now as when we let him go out on his own for the first time. At the same time, I don't want to lose my brother because we didn't allow him to make his own decisions and give him a chance to learn lessons on his own."  
Raph paused for a bit, taking in Leo's words. He then turned towards Donnie, waiting for his take on the situation.  
Donnie put his hands up in defense. "Couldn't have said it better myself."  
Raph hated to admit it, really he HATED admitting defeat in anyway, but he knew Leo was right. He knew that Mikey deserved the right to grow up and learn on his own like the rest of them had, but what worried him was that Mikey might be blind to a criminals tricks because of him being to kind which could lead to him getting hurt, physically and emotionally. But in certain scenarios, maybe his youngest brother needed to experience this pain at some point to truly understand the viewpoints of the older brothers. God being an older brother sucked at times like this, especially when you're supposed to be the badass of the group yet you're getting so worried about your sensitive baby brother.

Raph calmed himself and turned around. He then began to walk back into the lair and then turned right, heading towards the far right wall where his workout area was located.  
"Fine. But if anything bad happens" he turned his head towards Leo "then you better be able to fix it."  
Leo took his brothers words in, praying that everything would be fine if they backed off and didn't restrict Mikey, leading him to soon getting bored of this rebellious behavior and eventually stopping it altogether. As he was thinking to himself, he heard a faint repeat of everything Raph had said whilst he had been in the room, followed by chuckles from Donatello.  
"Heh, next time he packs on me, I'll have my revenge."  
"DELETE IT NOW OR I'LL BASH YOUR FACE IN!"  
Without hesitation, Donnie sprinted out of the lair and into the hallways within the sewers with Raph not far behind him.  
Leo chuckled and shook his head. "One baby brother leaves, and the next one in line takes his place."

Sam was drying her hair in the bathroom down the hall from her room. She decided that tonight was going to be another mellow night filled with video games and graphic novels, so she had showered and gotten ready for bed early so that whenever she was ready she could just crash. She was still pretty depressed about being kicked out of the lair the previous night, that and she was still very sore. Once the adrenaline had stopped kicking in, the next morning she had woken up miserably from being sore. Her foot was swollen pretty badly and her face had some pretty bad bruises, but luckily she could cover that up with a crap ton of concealer. While she was brushing her hair she heard the alarms go off from the sensors near her window, someone was breaking into her room.  
She grabbed her pocket knife which she had left on the side of the sink and ran out of the room. When she got to her room, she was shocked at what she saw. Standing right by the window was Michelangelo, the youngest of the turtles she had met the other night. Once he saw that she had entered the room he threw his hands up in defense. She pulled her phone out from her pocket and silenced the alarm. 

He lowered his arms and stared at her. "Uh, hey? Hehe."  
She gave him a small smile. "So, how long have you been spying on me at school?"  
His eyes went wide. "How did you know I was watching videos of you at school?"  
"I didn't." She smiled as she shut her bedroom door. "Hey can you shut the window behind you?"  
Mikey stared at her in disbelief. "Dude, so not cool."  
"Hey, you climbed through the window, so you can shut it."  
"That's not what I meant" he said as he turned around and shut the windows and then the shades. 

Sam walked over and sat on her bed. "So, what has caused you to break into my room tonight good sir?" she said playfully. She nodded her head towards a bean bag chair that was along the same wall as the windows.  
He sat down and sighed. "I just, I just wanted to apologize for how my brother's and I treated you yesterday. You seem really nice and you didn't deserve that."  
Same was a bit shocked at how serious he was acting, especially after seeing how goofy he was the night previous.  
"Look, uh how do you want me to address you?"  
"Oh, ladies call me Mikey."  
Sam laughed lightly at hearing him using the plural of the word lady, since his brothers had made it clear that they've never met anyone except for that lady April.  
"Okay Mikey, I really appreciate you coming up here to talk to me, but you don't have to apologize. I wasn't exactly friendly towards you guys either and that's how all this started. But thanks for being the nice one and allowing me to share my side of the story as well."  
Mikey rubbed his hand on the back of his head. "Sadly I'm the one that kind of ruined everything since I'm the one who slipped and made you run. My brothers were actually going to try and talk peacefully with you if you would have allowed, but because of me you ran away, and then Raph knocked you out, and then you kicked me which scared the shit out of the others, and then Leo knocked you out and everything just kept spiraling out of control." 

"It's all good, I mean I'm the one that started the whole thing by stealing from you guys, so I completely understand them acting the way they did, and again I'm sorry for kicking you. How's your face?"  
Mikey lightly tapped his face where he had gotten hit. "This? Don't worry, that stopped hurting about 20 minutes or so after it happened." His smile then turned to a frown as he looked at the girls face. "I see your wounds are more noticeable though."  
Sam gave him a big smile. "Don't worry, it feels a lot better than it did earlier today, so already it's getting better. Plus this one is easier to cover up."  
"So what does that mean about your foot then?"  
"Sadly that one is still a bit bruised, but it's slowly starting to feel better."

They both gave each other small smiles, each happy that the other was feeling better from the injuries they had received from the night previous. 

**Theme: Taru-"I Wish You Were Here" audio  
Belle Epoque-"May" audio**

"So, do your brothers know that you're here?"  
"Welllll, yes and no."  
Sam raised an eyebrow, questioning what this meant.  
"I told them I was going to observe a movie set that's set up downtown, but I know they know that was a total lie. They definitely knew where I was going."  
"Wow, lying to your older brothers. Welcome to the club."  
He chuckled. "You lie to your older brothers?"  
"Mostly one in specific, but that's because I live with him. But I've lied to all of them at least once. I mean hey, it's not my fault that they won't let me do anything just because 'they've lived longer than me so they know better' and all that crap" she said in a mocking tone.  
"THANK YOU! That's literally one of the worst reasons to tell someone not to do something! Like Raph and Leo went out one night and when they got back they told me that I didn't need to go out on my own because 'nothing happened and I would just find it boring'," he mocked. "Like give me a break."  
"Ugh, that one is even worse!" Sam retorted. 

"So, how old are your seven other siblings?"  
Sam paused for a moment, using her fingers to count. "Okay, Jamie should be 27, Amber should be 25, Jay is 23, Brian should be 21, Nick should be 20, Haley should be 18, and Chuck should be 14."  
"Wait, they 'should' be those ages?" he questioned.  
"Hey! You try and remember seven people's birthdays and ages and then you can come complain to me!"  
He laughed. "So is Jay the brother you live with? Since he's the only one you said without the word 'should' after his name."  
"Yup! That browski is my roommate."  
"What about everyone else?"  
"It's…a really long and complicated story. Everyone is okay and all, we've just gone through some rough times. In the end I ended up living with my oldest brother, but overall everything is good. Heh, if you guys have any concerns about why I was able to fight the way I did, talk to Jay. He's the one who signed me up for self-defense classes."  
"Ahhhh! That explains a whole lot!" he joked. "What made him want you to do that though?"  
"Are you kidding me? You're a ninja who has fought the Foot, I'm sure you know that as great as New York is, there's also a lot of danger within this city as well."  
He chuckled. "Fair enough, hey is that Glenn on your shirt?" He pointed to the shirt she had on. The shirt had the word "Claimed" printed across the front with a picture of Glenn from The Walking Dead. 

Sam's face was filled with joy. "Yea, he's my favorite character, with Darryl following very closely behind him. You watch the show?"  
Mikey was ecstatic. "Heck yea! Right now my two favorites are tied between Carol and Abraham. Abraham is tough and has the best catch phrases ever, but man Carol is one of the most badass characters ever! Did you see how she saved everyone from Terminus?"

"That was insane! She literally blew up a ton of walkers and just walked in and rescued everyone. I've had a love hate feeling towards her character for a while now, but she officially won me back over after that performance!" 

Sam couldn't believe this conversation was actually being held. She NEVER got to rant or fangirl over anything ever unless Jay was with her, but finally she had found someone who had the same interests as her, and she soon would learn that this one show was just the beginning. Mikey noticed some graphic novels on a shelving unit nearby and gasped out loud, literally energetically slumped down and rolled out of the bean bag chair, and began looking through each one. 

"Dude, you read manga to?! Where have you been my whole life!?"  
"Says the guy who lives underground in the sewers."  
"….HAHA!" he laughed sarcastically as he still looked through the novels. "Do you watch the anime as well?"  
"Yea, I enjoy the anime more, but the manga comes out so much sooner. Like Attack On Titan is literally killing me right now!" She said as she flopped down on her bed.  
He groaned. "Tell me about it! Like all the fight scenes with the beast titan, and we now know who in the group is the armored and colossus titans, and even who a third titan is! It would be so awesome to see all of that in the anime, but it's taking forever!" 

He then noticed some video games next to the stack of graphic novels. He looked through the stack to see what she had and was shocked to see that they both played a lot of the same games. "Hey, which of these is your favorite?"  
Sam sat back up to see what he was talking about. "Kingdom Hearts. As shocking as that might sound, that series has always been my favorite. My younger brother and I got soooo into that series, it's crazy that we're STILL waiting for KH3, but hopefully that just means that the wait will be worth it."  
Mikey chuckled. "Of course your favorite is the one game I know nothing about."  
Sam's eyes went wide. "Do you know about Final Fantasy?"  
"Yes."  
"Do you know about Disney characters?"  
"Yes."  
"Combine the two, and you get Kingdom Hearts!" she said with a smile as she excitedly threw her hands up in the air. "You have time to play?"  
Mikey smiled, thrilled that Sam had basically just asked him to stay longer. "Yea I have time."  
"Great! Hand me the game and go grab a controller. I just got one of the latest editions where they've combined a bunch of the past games from different systems and merged them all onto one. 

The two played for hours and hours, not realizing how long they had actually been playing the game until they had finally beaten all of the original and remastered version of the first KH game.

"Hey, you have a curfew?" she asked him as she looked behind her at her alarm clock beside her bed.  
"Ummm, not exactly, as long as I don't stay out to late. Why?"  
"Because it's 2 in the morning."  
"UGHHH NOOOOO!" He quickly got up and grabbed his board which he had laid along the wall since after a while it made sitting in the bean bag chair rather uncomfortable.

Sam looked over and forced a smile, assuming that this would officially be the last time that she would ever get to see the orange sporting turtle.  
"Well thanks for stopping by." She tried to think of things to say without sounding desperate. She had loved his company, something that she rarely ever had in general, and the fact that she could talk so easily around him because of their multiple interests made her enjoy his company even more. She didn't want this to be known though, she didn't want to seem clingy or annoying, but she really would have loved to have hung out with him again.  
"Um, if you ever want to see how the rest of the series plays out then my windows always open, hehe" she said nervously. 

Mikey deadpanned and stared at her with wide eyes. "You mean, you're cool if I come back?"  
"Yea of course, I don't get visitors often, so this was really fun" she said with an honest smile.  
Mikey then thought back to the video footage Donnie had hacked into from the high school and remembered how lonely the girl looked, and then realized that she had done nothing but smile ever since she entered the room hours ago.  
"Ummm" Sam interrupted his thoughts. "I mean, I understand if you're busy though, I don't want you to feel like you have to come back or anything, and-"  
"I'll be back" he said with a smile. "But if it's ever a bad time then just let me know. Kay?"  
She smiled back and made an 'O.K' symbol with her hand before she spoke again.  
"Oh, just a heads up, knock on the window next time so that the alarm doesn't go off. And if the blinds are shut, then just give me a sec and then I'll let you in."  
Mikey nodded. "Got it, knock on the window and no peeping. Understood! You free tomorrow?"  
"Yup, homework is done and I study earlier in the day. Same time?"  
He pointed at her with enthusiasm. "Same time. Well, see you tomorrow then." And with that, he opened the window, ran across the walkway, and jumped onto his board with the rockets on the sides helping allow him to glide down to the ground. 

Sam walked over and shut the window and re-set the alarm. No matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop smiling. For the first time in years she had felt a happiness that had been stolen from her a long while ago. Besides for Jay who was rarely ever home, she never got to just talk and hangout with someone the way she had with Mikey that night. And he wanted to come back, that's the part that amazed her the most. Everyone else in the world had cast her out and wanted nothing to do with her, and the only time anyone ever approached her was to ask for a favor of some sort. But Mikey had taken the time to find her and then took the time to actually sit down and talk to her. As Sam turned off the lights and crawled under her covers, she tried to fight to think of something else besides Michelangelo so that when she woke up the next morning her brother wouldn't question her as to why she couldn't stop smiling. He would excitedly question her and then he would freak out if he discovered it was because of a boy. Eventually Sam fell asleep with a small smile still displayed across her face. She just couldn't get over the fact that for two days in a row she would get to hang out with a new friend.

**So if you're still reading my story up to this point, I just want to say thank you for continuing to give my story a chance, and also thank you for being so patient. I wanted to be uploading chapters quicker than I have been, but some day's life is busier than others. But to those who are still reading, thank you so much. If anyone has any suggestions as to how I can improve then I'm always up for kind constructive criticism ******


	10. Chapter 10

Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.

Chapter #8

Sam hadn't realized what time it was when she heard a knock on her window. She was in front of her desk where her t.v. sat when to her left at the window was a smiling Michelangelo. A smile also began to grow on her face as she gave him the O.K. symbol and he opened the window. He opened the window and climbed on through, leaning his skateboard against an open space along the wall.  
"Hey toots, you forget about me already?"  
She snickered. "Right, because an almost 6 foot turtle is so easy to forget."  
"Well you're the one who left the window closed."  
"Not because I forgot about you, I just lost track of time."  
"Mhm, right, I see how it is" he teased. "What are you listening to?"  
"Oh, the song playing right now? It's called "Obsession" by G-Dragon."  
"And that would be?"  
Sam gave him a wicked smile. "See, if I tell you, then that means you have to allow me to rant on and fangirl for a while, as in I can't just simply say who he is, you'll have to listen to the whole story."  
Mikey put his fingers on his chin, jokingly questioning the situation. "Hmmmm, I guess I have the time to listen to your rant."  
Sam's eyes went wide. "REALLY?!"  
"Really" he smiled.  
Sam then went on to tell Mikey everything she knew about G-Dragon and Big Bang, the music group he was a member of. She told him all she knew and even showed him many of their music videos, which eventually lead to her showing him many of their funny moment videos. Within that same hour, Mikey had quickly become a fan of the group. He and his brothers loved listening to new groups and types of music and experimenting with what they did and didn't like, and right now he definitely liked this group.  
"So, do you like older groups and songs? Since according to this Wikipedia page, the album with this song came out in 2009."  
"Well, with this album specifically I just love a lot of the songs and the uniqueness to them, like it's hard to believe that these songs came out in 09. But I'll honestly admit that I'm all over the place when it comes to knowing songs, groups, and individual members and who and what belongs where. I'm a fan of some groups who have been around for a while, but I'm also a fan of some more 'recent' groups. Like I love Super Junior who debuted in 2005, but lately I've been focusing on BTS a lot more than anyone else."  
"I guess you'll introduce me to those groups another day then?"  
Sam smiled, if he held true to his comment, then that meant there would be more days where the two would be hanging out. "Yea haha, I don't want my fangirling to scare you away so soon."  
"Well, how about I introduce you to a group that I'm a fan of then?"  
"Alright, sounds fair. I've done my fangirling, now you show me who you fanboy over."  
He laughed. "Since you've introduced me to an Asian group, I'll continue that trend." He currently was sitting on the bean bag chair which he had moved closer to the bed as the two had been watching and dancing to music videos that Sam was streaming on her television. Sam tossed her phone down to Mikey who began typing, and soon a music video popped up, one that ironically was familiar to Sam.  
"Oh, I know this song!"  
"NO WAY! You listen to One Ok Rock?!"  
"Not religiously, but I know some songs, this one being my favorite."  
The two then sang along with and danced to "The Beginning" by One Ok Rock, followed by more partying to multiple other songs by the same group. 

"This is awesome!" Sam then plugged her phone in as the battery was getting low. "No one EVER has the same music interests as me, and when I show them the music I like, they just brush it off like it's horrible just because it's in another language."  
"Well not this guy!" he said with excitement. "I'll give anything a shot!" He then looked over at the television and noticed that the DVD player had the words "PAUSE" across it.  
"Hey Sam, what were you doing before I got here?"  
She looked in the same direction he was. "I was going to start watching the beginning of a new movie that I've been dying to see."  
"What movie?"  
"Naruto: The Last Movie."  
Mikey gasped and clapped his hands to his cheeks. "You have it on DVD?! Is it subbed or dubbed?!"  
"Dubbed."  
"HOW DID YOU GET IT?! I've wanted to watch it but I wanted to watch it on t.v. and not on a computer screen."  
She laughed. "I put in a request at the library forever ago and finally it was my turn to take it home."  
"Can…can we watch it now?" he asked timidly.  
"Oh my god yes! Like I would love to watch it with someone else. I was going to secretly watch it by myself and pretend I was watching it for the first time once I finally got to watch it with Jay, but this would be way more fun!"  
"Sweet!" he shouted as he ran over to the bed, halting right before he was about to leap onto it.  
Sam tilted her head in confusion. "What's wrong? I just showered a few hours ago."  
He rapidly shook his head. "No that's not why I stopped you smell fine! Just, I didn't want to just sit on your bed or assume that I'm allowed to or anything and I just don't want to be rude and…yea." 

Sam gave him a blank face and then goofily scooted over while maintaining the same expression, leaving an open space on the other side of the bed. She then put her left arm out and raised her eyebrows at him.  
He stared at her in disbelief. "…Me?"  
She gave him a puzzled look with a smile. "Who else? Just take your shoes off."  
"What's wrong with my shoes?"  
"They touch the ground."  
"So?"  
"I don't want dirt on my bed!" she laughed.  
He shrugged. "Fair enough" he said as he kicked off his shoes and sat down next to her. 

The two then watched the movie, every once in a while making comments about how much they shipped NaruHina, or cracking some type of joke about the film. 

Mikey pointed towards the screen. "Hey look! Sasuke is in the film for a whole ten seconds!"  
Then later on it was her turn.  
"Look! He's in the film for another ten seconds!"  
The two hadn't realized how late it was until after the film had ended. 

Sam frowned. "Dang, its 12a.m. already. I need to get to sleep so I can wake up at a decent time tomorrow for school."  
"I guess that means I have to wait until the weekend to see you again, right? Because every night will be a school night?"  
"Um, actually, I usually don't have a lot of homework each night, and it isn't AP testing season just yet, so most nights I'll be able to hangout. Sadly you'd have to come over kind of late most nights though, and you would have to leave kind of early as well." Sam rubbed the back of her neck. "I doubt you want to make the trip up here just to have to leave so soon."  
Playfully, he gave her a confused look. "Did you book me for events that I don't know about?"  
"You would come all the way up here just to hangout for a couple of hours?"  
"Totally dude, you're really chill and easy and fun to talk to. The only issue is if my brothers need me. Like if there's a Foot clan attack somewhere, then I need to be there stopping them with my bros."  
Sam was shocked. "You guys fight the Foot huh? That's insane, in a good way of course. You have a phone of any kind?"  
Mikey reached into his right pocket and pulled out what looked like a hand-sized turtle shell. When he pressed a button on the flat side of the shell, a screen turned on.  
"Donnie made these for us, we call them shell cells. They pretty much work like regular cell phones."  
Sam took the phone, impressed with its design. It would be cool to talk to the nerdy brother, but she knew that would never happen. Sam then began looking for a 'contacts' app to click on in order to prevent herself from thinking about how the other brothers had treated her a few nights previous. She entered her number into the phone and then used it to call her own phone. After a few seconds, her phone began to ring.  
"Alright, now we can communicate with each other. If the other doesn't pick up when they're sent a message, then we know that they're busy."  
Mikey's face then displayed a mischievous smile. "Heh, now I have two girls phone numbers" he said, putting two thumbs up.  
Sam responded with pursed lips while slowly shaking her head. "Wow, such a player. Two whole girls."  
"Hey! For a turtle who lives in the sewers, that's pretty good!"  
She laughed. "Yea I guess so. Well, hopefully see you tomorrow?"  
He held up his phone. "I'll be waiting for that text. Unless time gets away from you again."  
"*sigh* you're never going to let me live that down now, are you?"  
"Nope! Goodnight!" he said with a smile as he opened the window and climbed through, and that fast he was gone. As Sam turned off the lights in her room, she hoped that she would be able to see her friend again the next night, and she wondered if he thought of her as a friend as well.

The rest of that week, Sam and Mikey had continued to meet up with each other. Even on Wednesday and Thursday when there had been some gangs trying to rob a few banks and the turtles had stopped them late into the night, Mikey still stopped by for a few minutes to let his new friend know he was alright, and also just to say hi. It was now Friday night and Mikey was heading over to her house once again. At this point his brothers didn't even ask him where he was off to, they just hoped that he wasn't doing anything stupid. 

For most of that first week their wishes had been answered since the new friends had just been hanging out at Sam's apartment the whole time. Jay was rarely there, so the two were able to venture around the rest of the apartment and not just the one bedroom. On Monday the two had an intense nerf gun battle after Mikey had learned how to secretly add healthier ingredients to his pizza and then helped Sam bake a few batches of cookies. On Tuesday, Mikey helped Sam work on some projects she needed to complete for the many clubs she was a member of in the kitchen where they had more table space, and on Wednesday and Thursday the two played video games on the larger television in the living room with the little time they had. He assumed that tonight would be no different, but he was shocked when he climbed through the open window and saw that Sam was completely dressed with a small back pack on her back.  
He knocked on the side of the wall. Sam turned around and smiled. "Ayeee."  
"Hey, you going somewhere?"  
"WE are going somewhere, yes. Thank you for asking." 

Sam was wearing a long sleeve dark red shirt and navy blue track sweatpants with a beanie on her head sporting the same colors. In her back pack was her basic necessities, her tonfa, a phone and tablet, her camera detector, and attached to the back was her skateboard.  
"Uhhhh" Mikey said in a confused high pitched tone "I can't really go anywhere, ever."  
Sam was confused. "Why not? You're a ninja right?"  
"Yea, but I still look like this" he said as he held up his hand and wiggled his three fingers.  
"Well, blend in with the shadows like you usually do."  
"Where are we going anyway? And why?"  
"We've been meeting up in the same apartment building all week. It's been fun, but it's Friday night! Who wants to stay locked up at home on a weekend night?"  
"Me, which is what I've been doing all my life."  
"Well, you're friends with me now, so you don't have to do that any…more…" Sam was confused as to why the turtle in front of her was just staring blankly at her. She then realized for the first time since they had met that one of them had officially called the other a friend. She paused, afraid that he might want to run off now that she had given a title to their relationship, but to her amusement he just turned around and shouted "Alright lead the way!" 

Sam fought to conceal her smile as she realized his reaction was one of amazement and joy. She was still getting used to the fact that this new friendship made him as happy as it had made her. 

**Theme: Marshmello-Ritual  
**

Mikey climbed out the window and then jumped onto a ladder on the building across from where he was. He slid down the ladder and was waiting on the ground for Sam when he heard his phone go off. He read the message: _Hey I'm up top. Where are you?"  
_

"What?..." He looked up and saw Sam waving her hand over the side of the top of the building. He pulled his board from off his back and hopped on as he used it to glide up to the top of the building. 

"What are you doing up here?" he asked once he reached the top of the building.  
"Waiting for you! What were you doing down there? Hmph, and you were the one worried about getting caught" she said as she shook her head.  
Michelangelo looked around, wondering how the heck they were going to move around when they were so high up. Wait…she couldn't mean… 

"Are we jumping buildings?" he asked with wide eyes.  
"Try to keep up!" she shouted as she ran forward.  
"Sam, wait!" But before he could say anything to her, she had already run and leaped over to the next building. She skid to a stop once she stuck her landing on the roof. She looked over and smiled towards her friend, waiting for him to come join her. Quickly he ran over and with ease he jumped onto the same roof, but he was furious rather than happy.  
"What the heck was that? Are you crazy?"  
Her smile faded. "No, maybe when I first started doing this yes, but it's easy now. I mean not as easy as it is for you since you're taller than me, and ripped, but it's still a lot easier than it used to be haha."  
"You…you've done this before? For how long?"  
"About four years. I'm on my own a lot now, so I have to go find fun things to do on my own, that and being alone has increased my adrenaline seeking tendencies. That's pretty much the main reason I met you guys in the first place."  
Mikey was shocked, both about the fact that there was still so much he didn't know about this girl and also at how much she could do. He knew his brothers were right about her being able to do things that no normal person usually could. Was all that she had learned really taught to her in a self-defense class? Then again, maybe there was just a lot more to the story than he knew. Either way, he still wanted to be friends with this girl and he hoped that maybe one day he would know all the details as to how she was who she was, but for now he just wanted to help make sure she got to wherever their destination was safely. 

"Alright, lead the way. But I'm literally going to be right behind you! Okay?"  
She nodded. "Gotcha!"  
Sam was happy that he trusted her and wasn't questioning her about her past while being protective of her at the same time.  
"Here, we'll be heading in this direction for a while" and with that Sam ran ahead and leaped from roof top to roof top. 

For about 20 minutes the two constantly moved along the rooves of many of the buildings throughout the city. A few times there were moments where the two had to climb up or down, but overall they kept moving at a constant quick paced rate. Finally they reached a shorter building that was in a more vacant location in the city. Mikey wasn't sure what exactly this building was for or why they were there, but he was assuming that Sam's huge smile meant that something fun was in store for them. 

Sam walked over to a vent and pulled open the cover. She waved her friend over and then she slipped down inside the tunnel of the vent. She pushed her hands and feet against the sides of the vent and slowly began moving down the tunnel. She would slide her feet down some, then her hands, and she continued to alternate until she was at the bottom of the tunnel. She turned back to see if Mikey was following her. He looked confused, but he was still patiently trailing behind her. She then began crawling forward, and for a few minutes or so the two continued to follow this pattern. Eventually Sam stopped and then pulled her phone out of her back pack. 

"Hey, why did we stop?"  
"We're above the room that controls all the security cameras throughout this building. I need to set all the cameras back a couple of hours so that no one knows we were ever here. Don't worry it will only take a few minutes and then we'll be free to move around."  
He laughed. "You literally sound like Donnie right now."  
"Then that means your brother must be a genius."  
"Oh he is! Like he would probably freak out if he was able to talk to someone about tech stuff like this."  
Sam chuckled, but she knew that would never happen. As much as she would also love to talk to someone else about technology, she knew that Donnie wanted as little to do with her as possible, just like all the remaining brothers did. But she shook her head and ignored these thoughts and went back to focusing on hacking into the buildings security system and editing the camera footage.  
"Alright, time to move on. Just a bit further and then we can get out of this vent."  
The two crawled forward a bit more and finally Sam opened up one of the covers in the vent. She crawled forward and turned around to face Mikey who was cautiously staying still.  
"What's wrong?" she asked with concern.  
"Won't there be people wondering around? I can't be seen, I can't risk exposing my brothers and putting my family in danger…"  
Sam crouched down so that she was at eye level with her friend who was still in the vent tunnel.  
"So I've been on my own for a long while now, and I've explored A LOT of different places, including this one. For four years I've snuck in here on weekend nights. One of the reasons being that I thought the prices for a membership here are ridiculous, and the other being that I've never had someone to bring with me. Within the four years that I've been sneaking in here I've learned that the owner closes this place early each night at about 7:00 because he doesn't want teenagers wrecking the place, since apparently young people go crazy at nighttime according to him, which honestly isn't an inaccurate thought. I mean some of the kids from school that come here are freaking insane. Anyway, the owner's house is located further towards the center of the city and it would take him a long time to get out here. Plus, since we're not in a huge crime ridden area and also since the owner doesn't really keep any money here, there's no security outside, only during work hours when this place is open. I've scoped this place out hung out here countless times and" as she knocked on the wall "I've yet to get caught. Don't worry, I wouldn't bring you here if there was a high chance of your identity being exposed."  
Mikey looked up at her and smiled. He was grateful that she had put so much thought into their get together, and this also helped him in feeling more comfortable with her and in gaining his trust. 

As he crawled out of the vent and stood up, his jaw dropped as he finally got to look around and see where they were. The building was much larger than just this room when looking at it from the outside which meant that there had to be many other rooms besides the one they were in, but at that moment the two friends were standing inside a huge indoor skate park. Mikey couldn't believe his eyes. As much as he loved to skate board, he had never gotten a chance to go to an actual skate park. The only way he was ever able to practice was by skating along the rounded walls and along the pipes in the sewers underground, but this place was obviously a million times better.  
"Woooooow, this place is incredible!"  
"Heh, I had a feeling you'd like it."  
"So, are you going to show me your awesome moves?"  
She gave him a blank stare. "Uhhh, I like to skate and stuff, but I'm no Tony Hawk or Rob Dydrek. Honestly I've always been more of a speed skater, I don't really know how to do tricks or anything."  
"Well guess who has two thumbs and is super freaking awesome at everything related to skateboarding…THIS GUY!" he shouted as he pointed his thumbs to himself.  
"Alright then Mr. Super freaking awesome, show me watcha got."  
"Oh I accept that challenge ma'am!" 

He then grabbed his board and began skating all throughout the various vert and mini ramps throughout the park. He quickly went around and started doing all types of tricks. Sam knew a few tricks, but honestly she had no idea what the heck any of them were called, she just practiced some stuff she saw online until she got more comfortable with it. As the two skated around, they would talk as they happened to pass each other or as they stalled on the ramps. 

Sam rolled up to the top of one of the ramp and stayed still while balancing on the nose of the board.  
"Hey, what happened to not knowing any tricks?" Mikey asked as he rolled up and performed the same pose next to her, and then rolled off.  
Sam made a confused face. "This is a trick? All I did was stop at the top of the ramp" she stated as she followed behind him.  
"Yea, but stopping at the top of the ramp has a name, that one was called a nose stall."  
"Oh, so this is a nose stall?" She did the same thing, but this time she stopped on the tail of the board.  
"No, that one's a tail stall, see?" as he followed behind her and repeated the same move that she just had.  
"I honestly don't see a difference."  
"The first time you stopped on the nose of the board, this time you stopped on the tail. Does that make sense?"  
He demonstrated a few more times and eventually she finally understood.  
"Okay, then does this have a name?"  
She then skated to the top of the ramp and stopped with the middle part of the bottom of the board staying on the ramp. Mikey rolled up and did the same thing. "Axle stall."  
The two rolled off. Sam watched as Mikey was able to hop and get his board off the ground.  
"Does hopping have a name to?"  
Mikey then repeated the move. "That one was an ollie, because I used the tail of the board to jump off the ground."  
"Oh, oh! Okay watch this then." Sam then hopped off the ground, but this time she did so using the nose of the board. "Let me guess, was that a nollie?"  
He gave her two thumbs up as he rolled by her. "There you go!"  
She then watched as he rolled up to the top of a ramp and then flip the board around before riding back down.  
"That was a pivot right?"  
He shook his head and smiled. "Nope! Kick-flip!" as he went up another ramp and did the same thing. "Nice try though."  
"Hmmmm okay, let me guess the name of this one." She then rolled up to a rail and glided across using the bottom of the board. "That was grinding, right?"  
Again Mikey smiled as he shook his head. "No, THIS-" as he rolled up to the adjacent rail and glided across using the axles of the board "-Is grinding. What you did was a rail slide."  
She threw her hands up in confusion. "What's the difference?"  
He stopped his board and faced her. "You glided across using the deck, I used the axles."  
"…what's the deck?"  
He laughed. "It's just another term for the board itself. Try to grind again."  
Sam then rolled up and used the back axle to glide across the rail.  
Mikey cheered for her. "There you go!"  
Sam looked over at him and smiled. "So, would that be a tail grind? Since I used the back axle?"  
"There's no such thing as a tail grind!" he laughed "That was a 5-0 grind."  
"Oh okay, so then this-" as she rolled up and used the underside of the tail of the board to glide across the rail "is called a 5-0 slide, right?"  
Mikey couldn't keep himself from laughing as he shook his head. "Tail slide!"  
"Then what is a 5-0 slide?"  
"That doesn't exist!"  
"OH MY GOD I'M DONE!" she yelled playfully as she threw her hands up in the air.  
"Dude, how do you know how to do all this stuff but you don't know any of the terminology?"  
"I don't know, I just go with the flow I guess. Like when people teach themselves how to play an instrument but they don't actually know all the note names."  
"Fair enough, but what happened to not knowing any tricks? You've already demonstrated a bunch of them!"  
"I didn't really consider these tricks, I feel like tricks are way more complicated."  
"Heh, I can't wait to hear what you think the complicated moves are named."  
"I REPEAT I'M DONE!" she playfully shouted, and just as she did so, her board slid out from under her. She stumbled and fell back, but they both were able to see her board go flying straight up into the air and then land perfectly right into a bag-less trash can.  
"Goalllllll!" she shouted!  
"Ayeee cowabunga!" he shouted as he sat down at the top of one of the mini ramps.  
She looked over at him as she quickly ran up the ramp to retrieve her board. "Cowabunga?"  
"Yea! Got a problem with it? And if you do, then you're as bad as Raph!"  
She gave him a serious yet still playful look. "Okay listen up. 1. I don't have a problem with it, it was just random as hell. 2. Gee, thanks for the compliment" she said in a sarcastic tone.  
"1. You're welcome! 2. I take random as a compliment ma'am."  
"Well then you're also welcome for your compliment, sir. What is with guys and weird sayings anyway?"  
"What other weird sayings are you used to?"  
"Whenever my younger brother scored playing sports or if he got the new high score in a video game, he would always scream 'booyakasha.' What the hell is that?!"  
Mikey burst out laughing which lead him to fall and roll down into the center of the ramp.  
"Dude your younger brother sounds amazing!"  
Sam rolled her eyes and smiled as she pulled her board out of the bin it had landed in. 

For the next two hours the two friends continued to skate around, occasionally teasing Sam on her lack of knowledge when it came to skateboarding terminology. Once their time was up, the two packed up their belongings and went back to the vent where they had entered the room. They climbed their way back to the vent opening on the roof, making sure to alter all the cameras again before they left. Since neither of the two were really in a rush, they decided to walk back to the apartment, talking the entire way back as they continued to get to know each other.

"Hey Sam, when's your birthday?"  
"April 4th."  
"Oh! So you just recently turned 16 then?"  
"Yup! How about you? When's your birthday?"  
"February 2nd."  
"So you're not that far behind me then. You were born in 99 though, right?"  
"Yea, how about you?"  
"98, so I'm not that much older than you guys, oh, assuming that you guys all have the same birthday."  
"We do actually. Donnie looked into what he could find from the old files that April could find on us from the TCRI experiments and we all actually are blood related and were born the exact same day and in the order that we thought. When we were kids, there were times when we were curious about whether we all actually were related to each other or not since physically we have similarities, like how me and Leo have the exact same eye color and then Raph's match Donnie's spot on, but personality wise each of us are so different. There were also times when we weren't sure who was actually the oldest. For example, Donnie can sometimes be wise and calm like Leo, plus he's been the tallest of us four for a long time now, so we all wondered if he could actually be one of the oldest of us four. There were other times where we wondered if Raph was the oldest because he's always been the strongest. But regardless of these curious thoughts, somehow our instincts helped us know who was really the oldest to youngest, but it was nice to officially know that we are all blood related and the order of our births though." 

Sam smiled as she looked over at him. She was walking along his left side, so she was able to see his left shoulder where his shell tattoo was.  
"I still can't believe you have that."  
"What?" he said tilting his head to the side.  
"A tattoo. Like, I just can't believe you guys learned how to do all that, and they look really good to!"  
"Dawwww you're to kind miss."  
"Do your brothers have any? And who printed them?"  
"Oh yeah! Leo has another shell tattoo like this on his right arm, and he also has a tattoo on his left bicep of turtles in a row with lines above and below them. The one on his bicep is a design that he made when he was younger so the design means a lot to him. Raph has a shell tattoo on his shoulder to, but of course the design is a bit different because he had to go be soooo cool and be different, pfftt! Whatever" he said as he rolled his eyes. "Anyway, Raph printed ALL the shell tattoos, but Leo printed the one on his left bicep with a little help from Raph, and I printed the one on my wrist all by myself."  
"I guess Donnie doesn't have any?"  
"He does actually! He has a smaller shell tattoo like this one on the top of his left shoulder, he just has so much gear on all the time that you can never see it."  
"Wow, just from what you've told me this past week, I thought he would be a total health freak and wouldn't let a needle anywhere near his skin."  
Mikey chuckled. "You're spot on when you say that, that's why he ONLY has the shell tattoo, and it's the smallest of all four of our shell tattoos. But we've all seen the shell tat as a symbol that represents our family, that's the sole reason he allowed it. The rest of us have at least one other, but he would only allow that one."  
"So then what's the meaning of this one?" I asked as I pointed to the cursive writing on his left wrist.  
"Honestly that was a mix of me being extremely proud of myself both for learning how to print my own tattoo AND for learning how to write in cursive. Our dad taught us…basically everything we've ever really learned, but I was always the last one to really understand anything, so this tattoo was pretty much me rewarding and praising myself for learning the two skills."  
"That's really cool" I said with a beaming smile. "I love hearing stories about meaningful tattoos. Again this is just my personal opinion, but I just don't get the point in getting a ton of random tattoos, but I think meaningful tattoos are really nice. Ha, is there a reason for your brother branding kanji on his shoulder?"  
"Oh no that one's is just him trying to look super cool. Like even Leo who's all for tattoos thought he was crazy for that one." We both had to cover our mouths so that we didn't laugh too loud in the middle of the night.  
"Does the kanji have a relative meaning to his life or anything at least?"  
He nodded. "That I can luckily say yes to. It matches the kanji on the top of his bandana."  
My eyebrows rose in surprise. "I never realized he had kanji on the top of his head."  
"Really? I guess you didn't notice mine then either."  
"No! Where is it?"  
He stopped and held the end of the left strap of his bandana so that the cloth was flat so that the kanji was visible.  
"Whoa! I never noticed that until now! Do all four of you have this as well?"  
"Yup! Leo's is on the right side near his eyes and it stands for 'patience,' Raph's kanji on his shoulder and on the top of his bandana reads 'anger' and the kanji on his right strap reads 'beast,' Donnie's kanji on his left strap stands for 'bright' and he also has a small turtle print above it, and then MINE stands for 'heart' which I have a lot of because I'm just incredibly amazing. I guess I should also point out that there's kanji painted on the back of my shell as well."  
"NO THERE'S NOT!"  
"SHHHH!"  
"Dude…I swear I've been living under a rock. How have I not noticed any of this?!"  
"Because you weren't looking for it, but now you are!"  
"Wow, I was not expecting this Psychology 101 type of info today. I was un-prepared."  
"Hehe, oh hey there's a ladder coming up, if you put my board in your bag then I can carry you up."  
I nodded as he handed me his board. It was as I was securing his board to the straps on the back of my bag that I noticed the writing on the back of his shell for the first time. I hopped up onto his back as I carefully swung my arms around his neck and held on as he climbed up the ladder to the roof of the building.  
"So what does it stand for then?"  
"Mine stands for 'child,' a perfect fit for me if I do say so myself" he chuckled.  
"Mine? So your brothers have spray paint on their shells as well?"  
"Leo and Raph do. Leo has 'honor' painted in blue on his shell, and Raph has 'family' in red on the back of his. Hehe, Leo can write in Japanese perfectly, but when it comes to paint he just can't keep himself from making mistakes, so don't tell anyone this, but because I had to paint the kanji on Raph's shell I secretly wrote 'Mikey's the best' in really small Japanese characters in brown on his shell in a really hard to see spot."  
"Damn, and I thought branding kanji into your skin was badass, but this totally tops everything you've said about your brothers! But don't worry your secret is safe with me."  
As we reached the top of the building, he put me down and put his knuckles out for a fist bump. "Thanks bruh."  
I returned the gesture. "Cowabunga!"  
"Booyakasha!" 

It only took a few more minutes and the two had reached the apartment. It had gotten pretty late by the time they returned home, time passing by much quicker since they made the decision to walk home. The last few minutes continued to be filled with nothing but kind and humorous conversation between the two friends, both enjoying the others company. Mikey slowly began to notice that Sam asked a lot more questions and did a lot more listening than making comments about her own family and life, but he also assumed this was because he was a giant mutant turtle. Most people would probably want to talk more about that than everyday life. Once they reached the apartment the two said their goodbyes and decided to call it a night, but both couldn't wait for the following night, hoping that they would get to hangout and have another great night goofing off together just like they had tonight.


	11. Chapter 11

Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.

Chapter 9

*A couple weeks later*

FINALLY I HAD FINISHED MY LAST AP TEST FOR THAT YEAR! I was continuing my goal of scoring high on as many AP tests as possible. This goal was mainly to help eliminate future college credits while also hopefully being a way of helping me get into any college of my choice, even though I already knew where I wanted to go: Blair University. It wasn't exactly one of the top colleges in the country, but it was still a very well-known university, and EVERYTHING they had to offer was very competitive, including their soccer and dance programs. 

As I was exiting the school building I felt my phone vibrate in the small sling over bag I had on. As I pulled out my phone I saw that the call was from Jay.  
"Hello?" I asked as I was walking out the doors of the school building and about to make a left.  
"Before you keep walking, look up."  
I looked over across the street to see my older brother leaning back on the wall of the building behind him, waving at me.  
I instantly started to smile, and after I checked, I ran across the street towards where he was standing.  
"Hey! What are you doing here?!"  
"Haha, I knew today was your last day of AP testing for this school year, and even though I know you will continue to work hard and complete all your school work, today is basically when you stop and take a break from all the stress that school brings. So, I've been putting in some extra hours so that some strings could be pulled and I could take the afternoon off to celebrate with yo-OOMPH!"  
I hugged the crap out of my brother, excited that the rest of my day would be spent with him and then later that night I would get to hang-out with my new friend once again. 

"So dear brother, what did you have in mind for this spontaneous outing together?" I said jokingly.  
"God you're so weird haha, but I've been super stressed lately, so we're going to go jump on a bunch of trampolines to take all the stress away."  
"*gasp* you…you don't mean…"  
"YUP! We're heading over to Skyzone."  
"OH MY GOD YESSSSSSSS!"  
And that fast I took off and started running down the sidewalk in excitement. It took me a few minutes to realize that Jay wasn't following me.  
He stood there and shook his head. "That dork, I wonder how long it will take for her to realize she's heading in the wrong direction." 

*Later that same day* 

It's funny how long a 16 and 23 year old can spend in Skyzone going crazy and having tons of fun jumping around on trampolines. We ended up staying there longer than we both intended, so after we had finished acting like children we just decided to walk home and order food to be brought to our home. Ironically we ended up ordering some pizza. Jay said that he hadn't had a chance to have any in a while because at work they were always walking to the same few local restaurants every day, so I decided to go along with it and said "sure, why not?" even though I had eaten plenty within the past couple of weeks, but he didn't need to know that. 

As we were sitting on the couch eating dinner and watching t.v. I noticed that he kept looking over at me with a puzzled face.  
"Can I help you with something sir?" I asked.  
"…You're happy…like, happier than usual happy…why?"  
"Oh I'm sorry, forgive me for not being extremely depressed and actually enjoying life."  
"Tch, you're such an ass" he said playfully.  
"Might as well change my first name to Jack" I said with a smile.  
He chuckled. "Seriously, what's gotten you to be so cheery?"  
"I honestly don't know what you mean, I feel the same as the last time I got to hang out with you."  
"I guess its brotherly intuition, but I can just tell that you're perkier than usual. And when I say that I don't mean that you're usually depressed and sulking all the time" he said defensively, "but you've been acting the way you used to before everything happened years ago…oh god, is it because of a boy? Are you dating someone?"  
"Ughhh anytime I display any "new" emotion you ALWAYS assume I'm dating someone. I swear I'm not dating anyone!" I said as I playfully shoved his shoulder. There was no way I was ever going to tell him that a boy actually was the reason for my newfound happiness. Honestly I hadn't noticed a change in my behavior. Had mine and Mikey's new friendship really had that much of an impact on me already? Already, heck I wasn't expecting this new friendship to have any type of impact on me in general. When did these changes start occurring, and how could Jay notice a change in me when I hadn't even noticed a change within myself?

"Okay I'll admit" he began, "I do jump to conclusions like that pretty quickly, but it's only because I worry about you! I don't want you to get hurt. I was a high school boy once and I know that some of them can be real jerks."  
I smiled at him. "Don't worry, you have nothing to worry about. This increase in happiness is just because I'm finally done studying for a while…that and because we can finally watch the new Naruto movie."  
"OH YES! Thank you for reminding me!" as he got up and ran over to the t.v. to put the disk into the player.  
I laughed as I leaned back into the couch. Maybe one day I would be lucky enough to tell him about Mikey, but for now that was going to continue being my little secret.

It was about 10 at night when Sam heard a knock on her window.  
"It's open!" she called, and then she heard the window slide open.  
"Wassup bruh? How'd the testing go?"  
"Pretty good, I actually felt more confident about the stat test than I thought I would, but hopefully I'll get 3's or higher on each."  
"HEY! Mikey only hangs with people who have positive vibes! Have more confidence in yourself, especially after all that studying I helped you with."  
"Thanks again for all that, me explaining all my notes to you on each subject was definitely a huge help."  
"No problem, that's what friends are for. So, where to tonight?"  
"Tonight we're BOOOOWWWWLINGGGG!" I said as I excitedly threw my hands up in the air.

For the past couple of weekends Sam had snuck Mikey into a variety of different places. On Friday and Saturday nights she took him to places that were usually really crowded during the day like the mall and the movie theater, this way if they stayed out really late when these places were closed it wouldn't create any negative effects the next day because they both could just sleep in super late the following morning. On Sunday nights she took him to places that she knew the owner lived further away from the businesses location or that in general had low security. One night they had gone to a local arcade where the owner lived further away towards the outer locations of the city, and another night they went to a park that was locked up during the night. The rest of the week the two would just hang out in Sam's apartment. Because these past two weeks were when AP tests began, Mikey had been kind enough to help Sam in studying for the multiple various tests that she was signed up to take while also helping her in the projects she had to complete for other clubs as well. They both were excited that from now on, since AP testing was over and since Sam was in standard classes, she would be much more available to go out and spend even more time with her new friend.

Sam packed up her usual belongings that she took with her on their outings and the two headed towards the top of her apartment building. They thought that tonight was going to be another regular night of them hanging out together. However, what Mikey didn't realize was that he had gotten so caught up in the excitement of getting to go see his friend again that he hadn't charged up his phone, and that of all nights, the one night his phone couldn't hold a charge was the night that he would need it to.

Donnie was tinkering around in his lab when he heard one of the monitors make a beeping sound. He walked through the doors of his lab and turned to face the collage of computer screens. One of them was able to read the feeds from local police scanners and currently it was retrieving information about a robbery downtown and the location the robbers were currently heading towards, a warehouse downtown.

"Guys!"  
"On it!" Leo said as he walked past Donnie and headed towards the weapons wall on the far left. Raph had been in the workout area which was parallel to the weapons storage, so he was already gearing up by the time Leo got over there.  
Donnie joined them and also grabbed some gear that he might need. "The warehouse being robbed isn't too far away from here, so we can travel by foot tonight."  
"Alright, while I finish getting ready, one of you go to tell Splinter what we're doing and the other call Mikey and tell him we'll need him tonight."  
Raph ran to go get their father, while Donnie walked in the direction of the exit and got out his shell cell. He called Mikey's cell phone number, only to get no response. "That's not good." He tried again, just to get the same response.  
"I told dad where we're heading, how far away is Mikey?" Raph asked as he walked beside his brother.  
"Ummm, well, you see-"  
"He didn't pick up did he?" That fast Raph began to grow furious. "I knew this was going to happen at some point, you happy Leo?"  
"What's wrong?" He looked at Donnie.  
Donnie pursed his lips together. "Mikey's not picking up…"  
Leo sighed. "Leave a voice mail, he should be there by the time we reach our location. He knows to check his phone every so often, so he should be checking again soon."  
After Donnie left a voice message, the three ran off. They jumped and flipped over the various pipes and other random debris that popped up throughout the sewers. Within 10 minutes they reached a ladder that lead them up to a manhole cover. Once it was removed the three climbed up to the surface, then climbing up another ladder that lead them to the top of a building right next to where the exit from the sewers was. 

Once they reached the top of the building, Donnie checked his phone once again just to find that there was still no word from his younger brother. Leo and Raph looked over and could tell by their brother's face that Mikey still hadn't responded. All three were growing both nervous and upset about the current situation. Had their brother received the message and now he had been captured? Or was he being distracted by his new friend and he never got the message to begin with? Each of them shuddered when thinking of the girl. Originally it had only been Raph who just straight up hated her, but now even Leo and Donnie were growing some hateful feelings towards the girl. They were all worried about just how much Mikey hung out with her and what her true intentions of hanging out with him were, and not being able to currently contact him after they knew he had headed out to see her were making them all extremely nervous as to why he wasn't picking up. 

Leo sighed and made a decision.  
"Alright, whether he's been here or not, we need to get inside and catch these robbers. Once inside we might find some answers as to where he is."  
Donnie walked over towards a glass window that was on the roof. It was dark inside, so he put his goggles on and used them to try and figure out where the robbers were hiding.  
"They keep walking towards an entry way on the far left side of the room, whatever they're hiding or trying to protect is probably in there."  
Leo spotted a vent on the roof. "That should lead us in. Let's try to secretly get towards that opening. Raph, you ready to go Hulk on these guys?"  
"Tch, like you even need to ask" he said with an evil grin as he cracked his knuckles.  
Leo grinned. "Donnie" he faced the purple bearing turtle, "you try and head towards that opening and see what's inside. For now, Raph and I will try to lure as many of these guys away from that area as possible."  
All three brothers nodded and headed towards the vent. They removed the cover and each crawled through. They traveled throughout the vents until they reached an opening in the vent where once they dropped down, they were standing above a walkway that was raised above the ground. The three dropped down.  
Donnie used his goggles to see where the robbers were at.  
"Based on how they're dressed, these guys are Foot soldiers. They're spread out all over the place now, but it's too dark for them to see us up here." He then pointed towards the far wall. "If you two can lead them over that way, that or right below us, that should create an opening for me to try and sneak into that opening on the left wall."  
Raph had a devilish smile on his face. "Let's do this." 

He then jumped down and landed with a huge *thud.* Multiple heads looked over towards him. Raph closed his eyes, using his auditory senses to guide him in where to run and where to hit, as he rushed towards the few men in front of him and instantly started throwing punches, knocking out the few men who were closest to him. Leo ran around the walkway as he heard bullets being shot behind him, his loud foot-steps guiding the soldiers where to shoot. He then jumped down to the lower level as he used his katanas to knock the guns out of the hands of the few soldiers closest to him. He also relied on his auditory senses to know where and when to attack. Luckily there were only about 20 soldiers total at the moment, so it wasn't too difficult of a fight, but having Mikey there definitely would have helped. Once the soldiers had clumped themselves together as they tried to attack the two turtles, Donnie then jumped down and ran straight for the opening. 

After taking one step into the entry way, he felt a small pain in his right arm. He looked down to see a small cut, and diagonally behind him was a kunai knife. "Oh no."  
When he turned back around, Karai was rushing towards him. He turned and ran back through the entry way into the main open area of the warehouse where his brothers had been fighting.  
"Bail! BAIL NOW!" he screamed.  
He knew that if Karai was there, then this was no normal robbery. The Foot had known that the brothers would chase them down, they wanted the turtles to find them and attack. That's why there were so few soldiers inside, because the rest were somewhere else waiting to follow their every move.  
Donnie saw that there were more soldiers near Raph, so he ran over in his direction. The soldiers turned around and shot at Donnie who blocked their shots by rapidly spinning his bo staff, knocking down each bullet that was fired in his direction. As Donnie was knocking down bullets, Raph was knocking out soldiers. The two then ran over and helped knock out the few soldiers that were still attacking Leo.  
The three ran over and climbed up a ladder that lead them back up to the walkway above the ground. As they all ran around the walkway towards the vent, they heard Karai call to them from below.  
"You can only run for so long turtles!"  
Raph clenched his fists and was about to yell back down to her until he felt Donnie pull on his shoulder.  
"Come one Raph! We need to go!"  
Raph nodded and followed his brother back up to the roof of the building. 

Once they got to the top of the building they all followed Donnie, who being the thinnest was also the fastest. The three sped off for a good while. Donnie used his goggles as they ran to detect when someone was getting close to them. After they had been running for about ten minutes straight with no bodies being detected, Donnie decided that they could rest for a bit and strategize what their next move should be. 

Leo walked over to his brother with a puzzled look displayed on his face.  
"Okay, so explain to me what's going on."  
"Karai, Shredder's protégé and right hand man. She was waiting for us in that warehouse, which means somethings up. I'm not sure exactly what they're planning, but I'm sure it's not good. There's a high possibility that they're trying to locate our new home since they've tried that a few times. Sadly they got a small DNA sample tonight." He then showed Leo the small cut on his arm. "Now that they have this, they're probably on the move, trying to follow and hunt us down now as we speak." As he continued to talk, Raph came over and helped put some bandage wraps over the small wound. He shook his head as he did so.  
"Of course, the night they get an advantage over us is the night that Mikey is nowhere to be seen."  
Donnie nodded. "What I'm most worried about is that we don't know if he got that message and they captured him, or if he never got the message at all and is perfectly fine. They could have him and be heading towards our home while we're out here running away from what could have been a diversion from the whole thing!"  
"Alright" Leo cut in. "Then we need to find Mikey, NOW. Are you able to do that from here Donnie?"  
He nodded as he pulled out one of the devices from his millions of pockets running across his chest. Raph raised an eyebrow as he watched his brother go to work.  
"So, what are you doing?"  
"Remember when I took all our blood samples years ago?"  
"Yeah."  
"This device can pin point where each of us is because of those samples. I would use it more often, but sadly it dies out really quickly and takes forever to re-boot, so I try to only use it in extreme measures like this…alright I found him!"  
Leo walked over and looked at the screen. "Where is he?"  
"He's…at a bowling alley, that's near the outskirts of the city."  
"Why would he be there? I thought he was supposed to be with that girl" Raph growled.  
Leo sighed. "There's a chance that she took him there."  
"Or she TRICKED him into going there! I knew she was bad news, but no! YOU!" as he ran up and shoved his finger at Leo's chest "YOU had to let him go see her and now look at the situation we're in!"  
"Trust me I'm not happy about this either-"  
"NO LEO you're not getting out of this one! We never got into this panicked of a situation of giving up the location of our home until Mikey started seeing that girl, and I know you two feel the same way!"  
"GUYS PLEASE!" Donnie shouted as he pushed the two apart. "Argue about who's to blame later, but our brother may need us right now, and we definitely need him. So let's go!"  
The two older brothers looked at Donnie, and then at each other. They glared each other down, but slowly their faces softened and they nodded towards the other, realizing that if Mikey was in danger that their arguing wasn't going to save him.  
The two then stood behind Donnie, waiting for him to lead the way. Donnie looked at his device and found the quickest route to lead them to their destination, and once he had adjusted his goggles, the three ran and leaped over onto the next building.

Sam walked over to the tables that her and Mikey had been sitting at and brought over a few slices of pizza and some nachos. She walked to the beat of the music which was playing on her phone at the table.

"So, are you catching up to me yet?"  
"A little bit, but this isn't fair! You've had years of practice, this is my first time doing this and constantly I keep rolling the ball into the gutter!"  
"Awww, want me to set the bumpers up for you?" she asked in a mocking tone.  
"NEVER! I will overcome this challenge!...aren't you a trainee at a professional dance school?"  
"Yeah, why?"  
"Then why are you dancing so weird?" he laughed.  
"Because I'm just moving to the beat, songs like this make you do that! You dance like a dork out of fun, the music just takes control!" 

The two had been hanging out for a couple of hours at the bowling alley where there had been a lot of goofing off, learning about each other, and teasing the hell out of Mikey who was struggling to get a hold of how to bowl without letting the ball land in the gutter. At this point in time, Sam had learned everything about the turtles and Splinter's past and how they became what they were thanks to Sachs experiments. She also knew about the great hogosha April O'Neil, so now she wasn't as jealous as to why she got to hang out with the guys so much since she literally was the reason the five of them were free to live the way they were now, so Sam understood how different their situations were and why the two were treated differently amongst the turtles. She had also learned about their battles with the Shredder months ago and how he had landed in the middle of the streets of New York and how he had escaped because some of his main soldiers had sprayed gases all throughout that local area of the fall so that the crowd would disperse and they could swoop in and rescue their leader. 

In return, Sam told him about how Shredder currently was running two groups. The men that relied solely on guns were from a gang called the Purple Dragons whose leader was called Hun. Hun had decided to work for Shredder when he was offered endless weapons as long as he fulfilled any given order, which Hun was okay with since he would get all the power and credit while his men did all the dirty work. The soldiers who actually fought using their ninjutsu were the true Foot soldiers that trained and then traveled from the main branch in Japan. 

She then told him more details of her personal life. She talked a lot about her seven siblings and some of the adventures they had gone on growing up. She mentioned that her older Korean sister Amber who was nine years older than her was her role model in life. Amber didn't care that people judged her for being a tomboy and she always lived life to the fullest. While Sam's Korean sister Jamie and her blood sister Haley were both extreme girly girls who were attached at the hip, Sam was always attached to Amber and a lot of her interest in sports and video games actually came from her before she began talking to her brothers about them. 

She also talked a lot about her younger brother of two years, Chuck, whom she was ridiculously over protective of. She told Mikey about the millions of inside jokes that her and Chuck knew about, which always confused the heck out of the rest of their siblings. 

Mikey was happy to hear about Sam's family, since beforehand it seemed that she would only bring them up for a quick minute and then would change the subject, so it meant a lot to him that she finally was feeling comfortable enough around him to talk about her family and a little bit about her past. 

As the two were talking, Sam heard a beeping sound from her iPad in her bag. She picked it up to see that the small cameras she hid on the top of the building had been set off. She nodded to Mikey and the two got ready to fight and run. When the two had originally arrived at the bowling alley hours ago, Sam re-set and edited the cameras within the building and also set up some of her small dome cameras in case someone were to show up for whatever reason. She now made this part of a regular routine whenever the two left her apartment to go hang out. She had also shown Mikey any and all main and quickest escape routes in case they needed to make a quick getaway. 

Sam had thrown everything she had brought into her back pack. She quickly slid her arms through the straps and the two ran for the easiest exits based on their speed, agility, and body size and height. Mikey ran towards the end of the lane where there was a door that lead to an exit in the alley way behind the building, and Sam had run towards the back wall where the lockers were where a vent was right above them. The two had their weapons in hand in case they needed to fight whoever was approaching. 

Just as Sam opened the vent, a giant arm pushed her backwards. She stumbled, but was able to maintain her balance. When she looked back up, a furious Raph was standing in front of her. He grabbed her shirt and pulled her forward.  
"You…" he snarled.  
"No, not Yu, Park. My last name is Park, I do know a Yu though" she said sarcastically.  
"I swear I'm gonna-"  
"No thanks!" Leo cut in as he connected his arm with Raph's and swung him back, making Raph lose his grip on the girl.  
By this time Mikey had already run back over to where the others were standing, confused and scared as to what would happen next. Before he could say anything, a pissed and worried Donnie was in his face.  
"Where is your phone? Do you know how many times I called? Seriously we've been so worried about you, you idiot, and you've been playing around here?!"  
"Wait, what? Why didn't I get any messages?"  
"Your phones dead dude."  
The two deadpanned, and all four sets of eyes were on Sam.  
She reached into her bag and pulled out the shell cell and tossed it to her friend. "I picked it up earlier to check the time while you were looking up music on my phone, it's been dead the entire time we've been here. I've been charging it for a while, but it charges quicker when you leave it off. Sorry, I should have turned it on when I was charging it."  
"Oh you should be sorry for a lot more than that! You don't even know the dangers you've put all of us through!" Raph snapped.  
Sam turned around to look at him.  
"Don't worry, I always make sure everything is as safe as possible whenever we go out."  
"GO OUT?" Donnie asked.  
Sam closed her eyes, a disappointed look on her face as she realized she got the terms "go" and "hang" jumbled in that split second. "Oops…"  
"YOU'VE GONE OUT MORE THAN ONCE?!" Raph was losing his cool, which he never really had to begin with.  
Leo was also beginning to lose what little self-control he had.  
"Mikey, this can't go on anymore."  
"Leo wait-"  
"No you listen! We called you about an hour ago because we needed you for back up against the Foot, and now they have a way of tracing our every move and if we're not careful they could follow us and find out where our home is. We had no idea if you had gotten our message and had been kidnapped and if the Foot robbery was just a diversion, or if you were somewhere else that was safe. And it turns out that you were just playing around the entire time! This is exactly what I meant when I said that you two could bring danger to you and our family!"  
Mikey just stood there. He knew his brother was right, his excitement for wanting to hang out with his new friend had distracted him from being prepared to help support and protect his brothers. He wished there was a way he could see Sam while also being able to stay close to his brothers. Before he could say anything, Donnie butt in.  
"Leonardo, we need to go. NOW. According to my scanners, multiple bodies are closing in on this building." 

Mikey turned towards Sam, concern etched onto his face.  
"You have to hide."  
She gave him a puzzled look. "Why?"  
"Because Foot soldiers are heading this way. Based on what you told me earlier, Shredder has been using a lot more of his actual soldiers than he has been using the Purple Dragons to fight his battles lately. These guys are bad new Sam, you have to hide."  
"Welllll you'll have to catch me first!" 

She then turned and sprinted back over towards the lockers along the back wall, jumped up and pulled herself up on top of them.  
"SAM!" shouted a worried Michelangelo.  
"Trust me I've trained for this, plus I need to find a tight spot where I can edit all the main cameras and then also go and collect mine."  
"Cameras have been collected and I can edit the ones that belong to this building" Donnie said in a serious yet stern tone.  
"Oh, thanks" Sam said with a small smile. "Anyway, I'll go this way. If they're tracking you guys, then its best if I go a different way. Plus it's easier for me to travel this way because these vents are super thin, that's why you and I came in through the alley way. If a tiny teenage girl can barely move through these vents, then I'm sure it will be hell for a bunch of male Foot soldiers to do the same." 

Mikey looked over at Donnie who was nodding his head.  
"As much as I hate to admit it, those are all valid points." He looked up at Sam. "Meet us on the top of the building and DO NOT move from there. If you see Foot soldiers then hide somewhere and don't let them find you. We don't need a hostage situation to make things worse than they already are."  
Sam made the O.K. symbol with her fingers, and then she climbed up into the vent. 

Leo looked over at Mikey, squinting his eyes in confusion.  
"How does she know that the vents are tighter here?"  
"Oh, she's been sneaking into places like this for years" he said with a playful smile.  
"Oh great!" Raph cut in, "Now it's official that we've been letting our brother hang out with a criminal." He then turned around and ran towards the end of the lanes where the door that lead to the alley way exit was located.  
"Dude it's not like that! No one at her school gives her a chance, and her family members are always busy, so she's all alone!" he said as he ran behind her.  
Donnie was hacking into the cameras with the control pad on his wrist as they ran. "Mikey, don't you find it a bit odd that she doesn't have one friend from school, and that out of her seven other siblings, they're always busy?"  
"Well, yea. But I know there has to be a reason for that, and eventually she'll tell me!"  
"Alright," Raph said, "has she told you why she has so much strength when she's as thin as a stick?"  
"She took some self-defense classes in the past, and keep insulting her and see what happens!" Mikey said as he nudged his brother.  
"Oh please continue to threaten me you half-pint! You totally won't regret what will happen if you do!" Raph replied as he shoved his brother's face away.  
"STOP!" Leo had been leading the way but now was holding his hand up for his brother's to come to a halt.  
"Leo he's getting way to attached-"  
"HUSH! Look." Leo held up the device in his hands. While Donnie had been hacking the cameras, Leo had been holding the device showing the location of the Foot soldiers, and right now it showed that multiple bodies were standing down at the other end of the alley way. 

"Wait," Donnie took the device into his own hands. "This is showing that there's a bunch of bodies outside, but they're focused on getting up to the roof. Look, they're all standing around waiting to climb up the ladder."  
Leo sighed. "We have to act fast, they may have found her."  
Mikey clenched his fists, waiting for orders as to how they should attack.  
The four brothers heard a few gun shots.  
"These guys are purple dragons, which means they should be a little easier to fight."  
"They're who?" asked Raph.  
"Never mind, I'll explain later. Leo what's the plan?" Mikey asked seriously.  
"…Alright, we need to get through these guys down below as soon as possible. According to the device, all the soldiers are at the bottom of this alley and only a small handful are at the top of the building. We need to clear through these guys down below as soon as possible. Mikey, you go directly to the roof as quick as you can and defend Sam. Got it?"  
"Wait!" Donnie chimed in. "There's a strong reading of our own DNA on this device, which means one of those soldiers has the device they're using to track us. We need to destroy that device. The knife they used earlier barely hit me, so any and everything they have to track us is out there right now."  
"Alright, are we all good now?"  
All four brothers nodded their heads.  
"Alright, LET'S GO!" 

The four brothers shoved open the door and followed the orders they were given.  
Mikey instantly jumped onto his board and rocketed up to the roof of the building. Raph pulled his sais out and started cutting into every gun he could dig his weapons into. The best thing about these guys was that once they lost their guns, they were powerless. Leo leaped over his brother, attacking the soldiers in the back of the group. He used his katanas to block bullets that were shot at him while shoving soldiers into the wall, knocking them unconscious. Donnie momentarily hid in the shadows, trying to pin point who had the device that was tracking them. Finally he saw one of the soldiers in the middle of the group wearing a small pack with a few wires that lead to a small bump on his wrist, bingo.

"Raph back me up!" Donnie yelled as he rushed towards the center of the pack of men. Raph began barreling through, helping to create a smoother path way for his brother to run through. Donnie attacked men with his bo staff as he dodged bullets and flipped over clumped groups of rushing soldiers. Eventually he caught up to the man with the pack on his back. Donnie swung his bo at the man's feet, tripping him and making him fall flat on his face. As the man's face hit the concrete, Raph came up behind him and dug his sais into the top of the pack and dragged them all the way down, destroying the device. 

Within a few more minutes, all the soldiers on the ground had been knocked out.  
"Raph, give me a boost" Leo said as he nodded his head towards the ladder along the wall of the building.  
Leo jumped up as Raph pushed his feet up with his hands, helping Leo get to a higher point on the ladder so that he could reach the roof sooner, with Raph climbing up the ladder right behind him. Donnie used an electronic grappling hook to help him get to the top of the roof.  
When all three finally reached the top of the roof, they were shocked at what they saw. 

There were four Foot soldiers in total, and these were actual Foot soldiers, and they were being fought by not only Michelangelo, but Sam as well.  
Sam and Mikey were standing back to back, each defending punches and kicks from two soldiers each in front of them.  
The three brothers were shocked to see Sam dodging these attacks, blocking attacks that were close to hitting Mikey as well. A fist went by Sam's face, and she slammed her tonfa down on the man's arm. As she did so she ducked down from a kick coming from the second man. Overall she was good at timing when to dodge and when to attack, but it was also extremely noticeable that she was getting exhausted, and fast.  
Suddenly, as she put her tonfa in front of her to block another kick, she left her middle section open, and the second man landed a second kick right to her stomach. 

Sam did her best to pull herself to the side as fell to the ground, keeping her tonfa above her in case another blow was sent towards her head as she fell, but to her surprise the remaining three brothers rushed in and began to fight. Now that each turtle was fighting one on one with a Foot soldier, taking the men down was much easier. Sam scooted off to the side and watched the brothers fight…well, barely. The fights were over almost as soon as they began. 

Once it was confirmed that all four soldiers were knocked out, the brothers all sighed in relief.  
Mikey walked over to Sam.  
She looked up at him with concern in her eyes. "You okay?"  
He chuckled, his eyes wide in amazement. "Are you serious? You're the one that just took a pretty nasty blow!" He put his hand out to help her up.  
She took his hand and grunted a bit as she stood up. "What, that last hit? It didn't hurt as much as you think, I've been hit worse in soccer games. It just caught me off guard is all, and I didn't want to fall backwards and have four guys right on top of you. It's been a while since I've fought like that so I'm a little shaky, hehe."  
"Why have you had to fight like that ever?" Leo asked as walked over, crossing his arms.  
"I used to take some self-defense training classes."  
"Those classes teach martial arts? I thought it was more so teaching what to do when attacked by a robber and how to throw solid punches, that kind of thing."  
"Well…special request classes do" she said timidly.  
"Well they totally taught you how to be a badass!" Mikey chimed in. "That was awesome! Guys you should have seen her! She was defending herself with a gun she had got from some of the Purple Dragons members who had come up here first, like those four couldn't get anywhere near her. Once I got up here she totally landed some solid hits to all four of them once she caught them off guard!"  
"Who are the purple dragons?" asked an angry Raph.  
Sam looked up at him. "The Purple Dragons are a gang that is run by a man named Hun, who now is basically owned by Shredder. 99% of the time when you see soldiers with guns, it's Hun's guys. The actual ninjas are from the main Foot Clan branch in Japan."  
Leo gave her a weird look. "And you know this how?"  
"Hacking into documents at police headquarters" she said, followed by a beaming smile. Sam was proud of the technological skills that she had learned over the past four years.  
"…You have really strange hobbies."  
"And I think it's strange how you talk sternly like a 90 year old man" she said with an innocent smile. Leo was not amused as he continued to frown at her. Mikey's face on the other hand was covered in nothing but smiles.  
"Dude, with more training, you could possibly even catch up to our level of expertise. Back at the lair we have a dojo where I could teach you everything-"  
"HELL NO! She cannot come back home with us!"  
"Oh come one Raph! She just fought with us, what other proof do you need that she's a good guy?"  
"She has ninja skills, ridiculous strength for someone her size, and she knows more about the Foot clan than I'm comfortable with, and apparently she knows this because she's good at hacking into documents she should never get her hands on. She's provided more evidence as to why we shouldn't trust her than as to why we should! You agree with me right Donnie?...Don?"

They all turned around to see Donnie staring off into the distance. Leo walked over to him.  
"Don?"  
"She's watching us. Look over there." Leo looked straight ahead in the direction that his brother was pointing and saw a thin figure staring at them, and then quickly run off, disappearing into the darkness of the night.  
"Karai…" Leo mumbled.  
"See! We can't let crazy chick number two hang out with us when crazy chick number one is still after us."  
"Dude!" Mikey shouted in frustration.

Both brothers looked over at Leo. The eldest brother stood there, contemplating what his options were. Finally, he came to a conclusion, one that he was far from thrilled about.  
He looked over at Sam. She was staring at the ground with a blank face. She had a strong feeling that this would be the last time she would ever get to talk to her new friend and she hoped that she would at least get to walk home with him before he was ripped away from her.

"You" he said as he faced the girl. She looked up at him from afar, standing silent and still.  
"…You can visit us in the lair from now on, but you need to let Mikey know when you're heading down. If you just randomly show up then I'll personally kick you out. Understand?" he said through gritted teeth. 

Sam's jaw dropped slightly in disbelief in what she was hearing. On the other hand, Donnie's jaw had dropped completely, and while Mikey grew a huge smile on his face, Raph's frown grew bigger than ever before.  
"What?!" Mikey said in excitement.  
"WHAT?!" Raph snarled in furry.  
"Leo…are you sure that this is the best solution?" Donnie asked.  
Leo took a deep breath in, and slowly let it out.  
"Mikey already broke code after we told him not to go see her, so I'm sure he'll do it again" Leo said as he glared at Mikey, who pursed his lips together and stared at his feet.  
"Next time the police scanner goes off, it will be safer if Mikey is somewhere close rather than being somewhere where we would have to hunt him down, like we did tonight. Plus, Splinter has seen her up close now. If we leave and she tries to pull some type of stunt, he can handle her."  
Donnie nodded. "I see you put a lot of thought into this. Alright, I support your decision." He wasn't thrilled about this decision, but his older brother made a good point. Plus, this also meant that they could keep a closer eye on this mysterious girl as well.  
"Pshh, whatever." Raph had had enough. He began to walk over towards the edge of the roof and then slid down the ladder. Even if this girl was now allowed in his home, he would do everything possible to make her feel uncomfortable and unwelcome, then maybe she would get the hint that she wasn't wanted. 

As Donnie and Leo turned to follow, Sam called after Leo. He turned to face her as she spoke.  
"Um, thanks, for trusting me to come into your home that is" she said with a small but innocent and sincere smile.  
Leo pursed him lips together and forced a fake smile. "Well, I didn't really have a choice" he said in a sour tone. 

While Sam played it off like it was no big deal, Mikey noticed his brothers behavior. He waited and made sure that his brothers were below ground before he spoke.  
"Tch, honorable and noble leader my ass, a leader doesn't treat someone like that."  
"I don't blame them though."  
He looked at her in shock. "What?!"  
Sam gave a light disheartened smile. "I'm a stranger to them, and I didn't exactly meet them in good circumstances. Plus they're you're older brothers, so if I'm not the perfect typical girly girl who can't throw a punch and who always needs saving then I'm seen as a threat. I mean Raph makes a good point when he gets upset at what I can do. Most normal girls can't fight with tonfa and dodge punches as quickly as they can throw them. I'm sure I'd be extremely worried if someone like me became friends with Chuck as well."  
Mikey gave a small smile and put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, eventually they'll soften up once they get to know you. There's already things you can talk to them about, once they get used to having you around then they'll never want you to leave."  
She laughed out loud. "Just because you want me around all the time doesn't mean that they will."  
He put his arm around her shoulder. "Heh, we'll see about that. Anyway, I'll walk you home since it's getting late."  
And the two walked back to Sam's apartment, talking about all the fun things they would do the next night when Sam would finally get a chance to enter the lair again.


	12. Chapter 12

Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.

Chapter #10

*The next day/Saturday*

It had been a fun and peaceful morning as Mikey and Sam sat on the couch playing videogames. The two had been switching around and playing different games that they both loved. They currently were playing Drive Club and Sam was in the lead.  
"Ahhh come on, come on, come on!" Mikey chanted nervously.  
She laughed. "Chanting will get youuuuu NOWHERE!" She screamed as she won the race.  
She stood up and threw her arms up in the air, followed by her jumping up and down on the couch.  
Mikey lightly tossed his controller on the table in front of them as he shook his head and smiled.  
"Jeez, is there any game where I can prevent you from kicking my ass?"  
"Nope!" she said teasingly. "All my life I've had to learn every trick in the book in order to defeat my four brothers and get them to allow me to join them online, so now I'm UNSTOPPABLE" she said as she struck a pose with her hands on her hips.  
Mikey chuckled until he saw the score board. "Uh oh…"  
"What's wrong?" She looked up at the screen, a huge smile forming on her face. "Oh sweet! New high score!"  
"SHHHHHHH!"  
She looked at her friend. "Okay what's up? Why the shushing and not the cheering? What happened to only positive vibes?"  
"This is Raph's game, as in one of his favorite games and also the only game where he knows he can dominate and always beat us no matter how hard we try to defeat him. The last time someone beat his high score, he spent the entire next day dedicated to beating that new score. And even when he finally beat that score, it wasn't good enough for him. He spent a couple of weeks making sure that his score was so high that no one could ever come close to beating it. He's going to flip when he sees this!"  
Sam looked at him in confusion. "If it would be such a big deal to beat his high score, why are we even playing this game in the first place?"  
"You said you wanted to play a racing game, and this is one of the best ones. Plus, I didn't think that within three rounds you would have gotten a higher score than the one Raph spent weeks working to achieve."  
She shook her head jokingly. "Wow, I've never felt so insulted in my life."  
Mikey chuckled as Sam picked up the controller. She saw that all the other scores had the name RAF printed next to them, so she typed the same name into the space next to her score.  
Mikey gave her a puzzled look. "What are you doing?"  
"If Raph sees his name next to the score, then he'll just assume that this is the score that he had worked so long to get, simple as that. Now let's go do something else before he gets suspicious." 

As the two turned the gaming system off and walked away in the direction of Mikey's room, Raph then happened to enter the room. He saw the Drive Club game case on the table. Realizing that he hadn't played one of his most favorite video games in a few days, he decided to play for a while. Everything was fine…until Raph beat what was his old high score.  
"Yeah!" he shouted as he threw his fist in the air. "I still got it!" 

Just as he was about to add his latest high score to the top of the score board, his smile began to fade as he saw that his score wasn't in the top spot, but in the second spot. He looked at the spot at the top of the screen and his eyes went wide. He knew that he had never EVER reached a score as high as the one he was looking at. He then remembered that he had seen Sam and Mikey playing video games earlier that day and he had a hunch that Sam had been the reason his score was now only the second highest score on the board, making him furious. All his hard work and weeks filled with determination and dedication to get such a high score that only he could reach, only to be beaten by a stranger who had been playing for a few hours, and a stranger that he still saw as a threat to his family, the more he thought about it the more furious he got. 

Raph stood up and stormed off towards Mikey's room, the last place he had seen the two wander off to. He shoved the door open and Saw the two sitting across from each other while reading comic books. They both looked at Raph with blank expressions. On the outside they seemed calm, but on the inside they were nervous as hell and were trying to remain calm. They were both worried about what Raph might do next. 

Raph glared at them and spoke through his gritted teeth. "So, were you guys playing video games earlier?"  
The two nodded their heads.  
"Really? What did you play?"  
Sam began naming games.  
"Far Cry, The Last of Us, Call Of Duty, Wolfenstein, Assassin's Creed, Final Fantasy, Naruto, just to name a few."  
"That's all."  
Sam nodded, so far being able to maintain her blank expression. "Yeah, that's all."  
"Ever heard of Drive Club?"  
"Well yeah I've heard of it, but I haven't had a chance to play it yet."  
Raph laughed sarcastically. "Well I don't believe that BS for a second."  
Sam raised an eye brow. "I don't understand."  
"There's a new high score on my game, and I would have remembered every detail of what was happening around me if I had gotten a score that high on my own. So, tell me the truth now and admit that you played a game that you shouldn't have" he then cracked his knuckles and gave her a wicked smile, "or I'll make you tell the truth the hard way."  
Sam opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything, Mikey had stood up and blurted out "It was me."  
Sam spun around to face him, and both she and Raph furrowed their brows.  
She mouthed 'what are you doing?' to Mikey at an angle where Raph couldn't see her, but Mikey ignored her as his eyes were focused on Raph.  
"I was playing the game earlier today before she got here since she said she hadn't had a chance to buy and play it for herself yet. I'm the one who beat your score." 

Raph glared at his brother. Sadly he had nothing to prove that it had been either of them that had beaten his score, he didn't even have anything to prove that they had even played the game anytime that day, or ever for that matter. But he knew that she had done it. Mainly because he had just seen the two playing video games earlier, but also the fact that he had played this game with his siblings so many hundreds of times and they had never come anywhere close to reaching the scores that he had. The day Donnie had beat his score which sent him into his weeks' worth of gameplay trying to beat said score, that had been nothing but pure luck, Donnie even admitted that himself. So the fact that this ridiculously high score just happened to suddenly appear was very suspicious, but for now he decided to let it slide. He could tell by the girls face that she felt bad about the entire situation, and for now that would be enough to satisfy his hot temper. 

"You're in my house now, so stay away from my stuff, or else we're going to have some serious problems" he said as his hands balled up into fists at his sides and as he cracked his neck. "Got it?"  
"It's his house to" she said as she nodded her head backwards towards Mikey.  
"He should know how things work around here, but if I have to beat the rules back into his head then so be it."  
For the first time since she had known him, Sam glared at Raph.  
"That's pretty harsh to say about your own brother."  
"Oh he should thank me, maybe a good beating will clear his head of everything you've done to brainwash him."  
"YUP THANKS RAPH! You're the best!" Mikey cut in, hoping to settle things.  
Raph looked back at each of them one last time. "Like I said, keep away from my stuff, and watch your back" he growled as he slammed the door behind him. 

Raph instantly put his ear up to the door to hear what the two were talking about after he had just left the room. He heard Mikey's voice first. 

"Dude, what were you thinking? You can't talk to him like that, not unless you have a death wish!"  
"He has no right to talk to you like that, I mean you're his brother! He's made it obvious he cares about you in his own hot headed way, but I'm shocked he would talk to you like that."  
"That's just how he is, he's the older brother who wants his space and doesn't want people near his stuff. I know he cares about each of us, but that's usually just how he is. But egging on the fight just makes things ten times worse."  
There was a pause.  
"*sigh* Alright, I'll be more careful when talking to him then."  
And after that the two then began talking about the comic books they had been reading. 

Raph felt a mix of emotions. First, he was upset and pissed that his brother had lied straight to his face. Mikey had always been honest and would admit what he had done wrong, followed by him joking around and trying to make it seem like whatever he had done wrong wasn't that big of a deal, but this time he had just lied with a straight face. Raph then began to grow furious as he thought about the way his brother had been changing now that he was hanging out with this new girl, and he hated this new change. Then, he slowly began to feel excited, but for the worst reason. He began to think of the facial expression the girl had given him. Every time one of the brothers had ridiculed either Sam or Mikey, she always timidly looked at the ground because she felt guilty for what either she had done or for what Mikey had done because of her, but this time was different. Raph had really gotten under her skin this time, and in a wickedly evil way, he enjoyed that. He still viewed this girl as a threat and therefore as his enemy, and he saw it as a win on his part that he was able to make her produce such an evil expression when she glared at him.

He nastily chuckled as he walked away from the door and back out into the main living area.  
"_Heh, I better go work out and cool off before I do something I regret."_

Donnie was tinkering around with some devices at the desk in his lab when he paused as he felt a presence enter the room.  
"Uh, hey bro!"  
'_Ah, its Mikey this time' _Donnie thought.  
He turned around to face his brother. "Alright, what do you need?"  
"Those goggles you wear so that nothing can damage your eyes."  
"Safety goggles?"  
"Yeah those!"  
Donnie chuckled. "They're in the case in the back corner. What do you need them for?"  
"I'm messing with the gaming system in my room, trying to use some hacks that Sam taught me. I just wanted a pair in case there's any sparks that fly or anything."  
His brother nodded in approval since it sounded like something Mikey would do. He wasn't a technical genius, but when it came to videogames, Mikey was pretty dang smart. When it came to cheat codes and hacking into games to get secret weapons or power ups or things of that sort, Mikey could usually figure out what to do. It might take him a long while to accomplish his task depending on how complicated it was, but Mikey had surprised all of his brothers many times with his technical skills involving videogames.  
Donnie was silent, until he saw which pair of goggles his brother took.  
"Mikey, why are you taking the smallest pair?"  
He froze as his eyes went wide. "Say what?"  
"Why are you holding a small pair of goggles?"  
"…I don't understand."  
"That case holds a handful of goggles that are big enough for all of us to use, so why are you holding one of the smaller pairs from when we were kids?"  
"That sir, is an excellent question…can I take a rain check on providing the answer?"  
Donnie's brow furrowed. "They're not for you to wear, are they?"  
"Wellllll."  
"You lied to me just so that you could bring a pair to her."  
Mikey gave his brother a serious look. "'Her' has a name you know."  
"Yeah, and 'her' just persuaded you to lie to me so she could get what she wants" he said in a sour tone.  
Mikey threw the sour tone right back at his older brother.  
"First of all, no, she didn't persuade me to do anything."  
"Do you know what persuade means?" Donnie asked with as he raised his eyebrow.  
"I do, it means for someone to make me believe or do something by reasoning with me. ANYWAY, any and all materials she thought she would need to add rockets to her own skateboard she got from her house, but she didn't have goggles. She was going to work on her board without them because she didn't want to bother you by asking for them, that and she knew you would say no before she could even say one word. So, I offered to go get her a pair. She never made me do anything, I offered to help her."  
Donnie looked down towards the floor, trying to hide his frustration.  
"You lied to Raph earlier in order to protect her as well. Is this becoming part of a normal routine for you?"  
Now Mikey was looking at the floor. "You know about that?" he whispered.  
"Leo and I happened to be in the living room when Raph was yelling at you guys, we got the gist of what happened."  
"*sigh* honestly I'm to blame for that one. I never thought that within a few rounds she would top his high score."  
"So now this is the second time you acted without thinking because of her."  
Mikey rolled his eyes. "Okay, I acted without thinking way before we ever knew she existed."  
"Fair enough" Donnie said as he nodded his head, "but that still doesn't explain why you keep lying to everyone."  
"In order to get you guys to be nice to her. I get in the beginning that you guys were all worried, but she would have done something already if she was planning something, right? I mean if she really wanted to kidnap me or come back to the lair or something crazy like that then she would have done it already, right? She's literally been down here playing videogames all morning, how dangerous can that be? If you guys gave her a chance then maybe you would see that she's not the terrible person that you think she is."  
Donnie paused, thinking of how he should respond to this. Not knowing what to do, he continued to stand still and silent.  
Mikey sighed. "I'll put these back-"  
"Take them."  
Mikey looked at his older brother, his face expressing his shock.  
Donnie continued to look down. "I'll let it slide this time, but I don't want her using my stuff after this."  
"Yeah, gotcha" Mikey mumbled as he turned and exited the room. 

Once his brother had left the room and was out of sight, Donnie shut the lab door. He went back to the table and sat down. He put his elbows on the table and held his head in his hands. He wasn't sure how to handle this entire situation. He still didn't really trust or really even like this girl yet, but his brother was correct in saying that he also hadn't given her a chance. That was mainly because he didn't even know where to begin with her. It was so different when he and his brothers had first met April, she was so innocent and just happened to take their picture because it was her job to discover the latest late breaking news. The situation wasn't that serious and overall it was handled quickly and peacefully. Sam had also claimed that she just happened to find their lair, but this required her to use GPS devices and even camera detectors in order to find them, and then she tried to block them out once they had found her. She just seemed so suspicious and it made it extremely difficult for him to just casually walk over to her and start a conversation. He made a small smile as he thought of his brother's respectable confidence. Mikey could probably become friends with anyone because of how trusting and friendly he was. While everyone was afraid of April telling people about what she had discovered on the night they had all met, Mikey was more worried about getting a chance to talk to her again. Donnie's smile then turned into a frown as he thought of the facial expressions and body language his baby brother had just displayed moments ago. He made it visibly obvious how upset he was with how everyone was treating Sam, and that was also something to be concerned about. Donnie didn't want to lose his brother, and he knew that everyone being rude towards Sam was going to push Mikey away. 

Donnie sighed and went back to tinkering around with the devices on his work table. He knew that something had to be done to help lighten the tensions within this situation, but he decided that he would worry about that another day, and for now he would just stay calm and worry about his inventions.

"You didn't tell me that they were Donnie's!"  
"It's fine, your eyes will be covered now, and that's what matters."

Mikey and Sam were sitting at the kitchen table while Sam worked on adding the rockets to her skateboard.  
"No, what matters is that it's only the first day that I've been allowed down here and two of your brothers now hate me even more than they did before."  
"No they don't. They're mad at me, not you" he said with a huge smile, which slowly faded as he saw the depressed expression displayed on his friends face.  
"That doesn't make things better…" she replied.  
Mikey tried to think of how to lighten the mood.  
"Pshh, well you don't have to worry about Raph, he just hates everything the planet has to offer."  
Sam smiled lightly in return. "I guess pizza isn't something this planet has to offer then." 

As the two friends joked around, they didn't realize that Leo's bedroom door was open. Being the oldest and having seniority, he was able to locate his room away from the others, so while they all had bedrooms on the right side of the lair, Leo's bedroom was on the left. There was a small five step staircase towards the back of the eatery that lead to a decent size room that he was able to call his own. At the moment, he was sitting on his bed as he cleaned and polished his katanas. He did this as silently as he could in order to listen to as much of Sam and Mikey's conversation as he could. Right now, he could hear Sam's voice.

"So, I guess Raph is the type where he never shows emotions and to an outsider he has a cold heart of stone, but deep down he actually cares about you guys more than anything?"  
"I'd say that's pretty accurate. Like he can be really fun and actually cracks the most jokes with me out of all my brothers, but he also gets ticked off quickly. Like, one moment my jokes might make him laugh, but then five minutes later he could get angry based on another joke I make. He's someone where if you've been around him long enough you just kind of figure out what to do and say and when as well."  
"Sounds complicated," Sam stated as she continued to work on and inspect her skateboard.  
"Tell me about it, like you have to be really careful when comforting him so that he doesn't get more upset, and you have to be careful when ridiculing him and trying to teach him what he's doing wrong and how he can improve or else-"  
"He goes over the top crazy?" she said with a smile, still looking at her board.  
"Bingo!"  
Sam looked up at Mikey, and for the first time she noticed that Leo's bedroom door was open, with absolutely no sound coming from the room.  
"He sounds like a hot head, no offense" she said as she continued to look straight past her friend and at the open door diagonally behind him.  
Mikey turned around to face what Sam was looking at. He saw the open door, and out of curiosity, he continued the conversation as he wondered what his friend was up to.  
"Oh he is, I love the guy but yeah he's insane."  
"Ironically, for someone who can be as violent at the Hulk, he throws a weak punch."  
"I guess that means you weren't affected by his punch then?"  
"Well, would you feel any pain if you were hit by a punch that just kind of glides against your skin? It was like being punched from the Slimer monster from Ghostbusters" she said as she winked with a serious expression at the turtle sitting across from her.  
He nodded. "But you went unconscious, how do you explain that?"  
"It's not because of his strength, it's because of where he hit me. A punch to places like the jaw or the temple can easily make someone pass out. Leo hit me way more gently than Raph did and yet I was knocked out both times. Raph might put on a show so that it seems like he's strong, but in reality his muscles seem like they're made of a green stretchy rubber material."  
"So, his muscles are like Flubber? Are you saying that Raph doesn't have any strength to him?"  
"Of course he doesn't. What would you expect from someone who fights with gardening tools?"

They both heard Leo's katanas slide into their holsters and the next thing they knew, he was walking up to them. His face was calm, but the aura in the air made it known how pissed off he was.  
"You" he pointed to Sam, "let's go." He then walked off towards the dojo.  
Sam stood up and flashed Mikey the O.K. symbol before he could say anything. 

Once Sam made her way into the dojo, she stood next to Leonardo. His arms were crossed over his chest as he watched Raph train. Leo continued to face forward as he spoke.  
"Say something that you know will piss him off."  
Sam responded with a beaming smile as she spoke loud enough to get the hot headed turtles attention. "Hey dauntless, are you the biggest of your brothers because you have the most muscle, or because you're just that fat?"  
Leo's eyes went wide, he wasn't exactly expecting that, but he knew it would definitely do the trick. Mikey reacted the same way once he had caught up.  
"Dude! Just, WHY?!"  
With a joyful smile, Sam pointed at Leo. "He told me to!"  
Mikey looked at his older brother with wide eyes. "What?!"  
Leo kept calm as he faced his brother. "She wants to play games, then let's see how she likes this one."  
Right on cue, Raph was now standing in front of them. "Looks like the twig has a death wish."  
She shook her head. "Oh no, having a death wish means that I would have to lose. I plan on ending with a win" she said as she gave him a wicked smile.  
Raph glared at her.  
"Pick a weapon, you have five minutes before I start kicking your butt."  
"*gasp* oh my god, I was about to tell you the same thing!"  
"Sam!" Mikey said as he pulled her back. "What are you doing?"  
"Going to go get my tonfa since I only have 5 minutes."  
"SAM."  
"Dude, I got this, just trust me. All will be explained later."  
He paused for a moment before giving her a light nod. She then ran over to the eatery where her bag was, pulled out her tonfa, and then hurried back over to the dojo. 

"Alright, let's do this" she said as she walked out towards the center of the room.  
Leo and Mikey continued to watch from the side of the room. Donnie then walked over and stood next to his brothers.  
"Why are we all standing here watching Raph?"  
"Because she" as Leo nodded towards Sam, "is up to something, and Raph is going to teach her a lesson about respect."  
"And how did this happen?"  
"She was insulting him behind his back, and Mikey allowed" Leo said as he then turned and stared at his youngest brother.  
"Well" Mikey began as he spoke in a serious yet curious tone, "she's definitely up to something. She gave me this look when we were talking that signaled to just go along with whatever she was doing, so that's what I did. She said she would explain herself afterwards."  
The three then turned towards the center of the room where Sam was facing an angry yet excited Raphael. 

Raph was swinging his sai around his finger as the two prepared to fight.  
"Heh, they say that whoever gets the first punch will win the fight." He then clenched his free hand tightly, showing the veins that ran all the way up his arm.  
"Well, I'll just have to make sure I land the first punch then" Sam said with a wicked smile.

"Alright" Leo butt in, "are both parties ready?"  
Raph pulled both his sai out of their holsters while Sam tightly gripped both her tonfa handles, pressing the button on the sides of the handles and swiftly extending the length of each. 

"Three, two, go!"  
That fast, Raph was charging at Sam with his sai's held sideways in his hands so that he could still throw punches.  
Sam kept her feet planted as she swiftly dodged the first punch. She dodged to the right, but she didn't attack. She then saw where the open space for the next punch was coming and ducked down. With each punch that was thrown, she was always able to detect where the next punch was coming from. No matter how quick Raph threw his punches, she somehow always found out where to go in order to dodge the attack. Finally, Raph almost got a solid hit, but Sam saw that he was slowly trying to move closer and she also saw that he was beginning to raise his leg like he was going to try and land a solid kick to her stomach. Like she suspected, he turned sideways, brought his leg up, and landed a hard and solid kick, but Sam was able to pull both tonfa in front of her in time to block the kick, though it did push her back a decent distance away from where she was standing. 

"What? You can talk big but don't know how to fight?" he called over to her.  
She just smiled back at him. "You said whoever lands the first punch will win right? Guess that means I still have a chance to win."  
Raph gave her an evil grin. He thought the fight would have been over by now. He knew that she was quick based on what he had witnessed when she fought against that Foot soldier the night before, but he didn't expect her to be this swift.  
As Sam slowly began walking backwards, Raph charged towards her again.  
By the time Raph caught up and began throwing punches again, Sam had moved so far back that each time a punch missed her, it slammed into the wall. It was obvious that Raph was growing more and more furious as the fight went on.  
"_Why isn't she attacking? How does she expect to land a punch if she just stands and dodges my attacks? She's not even trying to block, she's specifically just dodging and …oh!"  
_Raph quickly backed away. Sam gave him a confused look.  
"He finally figured it out" Donnie claimed as Leo nodded. Mikey just stood there, confused as to what everyone else knew that he didn't. 

Sam sighed. "I guess you discovered my motive?"  
Raph nodded. "You're not going to get me that easily, dodging my attacks until I tire out."  
"Oh, I was actually waiting for one of your fists to get stuck in the wall" she said as pointed to the holes he had begun to make. Raph hadn't realized how deep the indents in the wall were until she had pointed it out. "Once you slipped up for a second I was going to attack, but you saw through my plan."  
Raph chuckled. "Did you really think it would be that easy?"  
"Guess not" she replied as she rushed towards him. 

For the first time since the fight began, Sam actually started to attack. She wanted to hold back from actually fighting as much as possible since Raph's strength would make blocking and landing attacks much more difficult. It would be easier to attack an opponent who was the same size and weight as her, but hitting an opponent that was much bigger and stronger than herself would hurt her more than it would the enemy. Sam wasn't sure exactly where to try and land a hit on Raph where it wouldn't hurt her to much as well, and it had to be a hit from her tonfa or else the attack would really backfire and end up hurting her. 

After a few punches, she noticed that he kept attacking up high, leaving the bottom half of his body wide open. Raph threw a left hook, aiming to use his sai to knock one of her tonfa out of her hands. He expected her to lean back again and just dodge, but this time she ducked down. It was risky, because ducking down to attack meant that she wouldn't be able to see where his next attack was coming from, but if she was quick enough, she would be able to land a hit near his feet, and that's exactly what she did. As soon as she ducked down, she jabbed the head of the tonfa into Raph's left foot, but at the same time while Sam was blinded from any incoming attacks, Raph was able to use the handle of his sai and jab it into Sam's left shoulder.

They both quickly leaped to their rights, creating a small gap between them. While Raph only felt some pain in his foot, he could still walk it off and fight. Sam on the other hand was really struggling to gain control over her left arm. The jab hurt more than it normally would due to Raphs incredible strength. Raph noticed her wincing at her sore arm and instantly took advantage of this. He quickly walked towards her and continuously aimed for her left side knowing that it would be much more difficult for her to block if she continued to try and block that one side. Sam knew she had to think quickly or else she would tire out soon. While Sam had incredible speed and strength for someone her age and size, she hadn't fought like this in a long time, and with her daily physical activities she at least got some breaks whereas now she was moving nonstop. Knowing she would tire out soon, she took a chance and ducked again, this time aiming for the back of Raph's right knee. If she hadn't been hurt than she would have been quicker, but just as she swung her right tonfa around to connect with the back of Raph's right knee, he brought that same leg up and then quickly slammed his foot down to knock the tonfa out of her hand. As Raph brought his leg down and tried to get back in ready position, Sam had already stood up right in front of him. She knew that she couldn't throw a punch at him unless she wanted to shatter her hand, so she went with her gut. Before Raph could event react, Sam slapped him right across the face. 

"Ooohhh" Donnie said with his chin resting on his knuckle. Leo winced with him after witnessing and hearing the *slap* sound after the girl had landed the attack.  
"HA*slap*" as Mikey slapped his hand to his mouth so that no one heard him laugh at what he just saw. He never thought he would ever see Raph get bitch slapped, but damn was it hilarious. 

Raph stood there, frozen like a statue.  
Sam had jumped back some after she landed the attack and stood there waiting for a reaction…and she continued to stand there. She waited for her opponent to move, but he just continued to stand there as he processed what had just happened to him, his gaze dazed and glassy as he stared at the far wall.

Sam then ran over to Mikey and basically started patting him down as soon as she got over to him.  
"Whoa dude, what are you-"  
"Looking for a weakness."  
Leo and Donnie gave her a weird face, a bit weirded out by what she was doing, but also very intrigued at the same time. They would never admit it, but they both were extremely impressed with what they had witnessed so far. They never imagined the fight would last this long, or that there would even be a fight period. Leo expected Raph to get a good solid punch or two in (knowing Raph would never cause any serious injury no matter how much she annoyed the majority of the brothers, Splinter had raised them all better than that), for Sam to beg for mercy, and then they would ridicule her about how this would happen every time she was caught being disrespectful towards their family. But Sam had held up a pretty decent fight, so he decided to just sit back and watch the show. 

Sam continued to pat Mikey across different parts of his body until she found a somewhat softer spot on his plastron near his waist. It was still solid of course, but it was a bit softer than the rest of his chest.  
"Um, find what you're looking for?"  
She gave a small smile and nodded. 

When Sam turned back around, she saw that Raph was still frozen, but now his hand was gently cupping the area where he had been slapped, as if he was still trying to process what had happened to him.  
Sam smiled as she rolled her eyes and called out to the red bearing turtle.  
"Hey dauntless, I'm the one who beat your high score in Drive Club within an hour of playing the game!" she shouted.  
Raph then turned around to look at her. He glared at her, and this glare was nastier than any other glare he had ever given her since the two had met. He was a mixed of embarrassed and pissed that she was able to keep up with him, and once he processed that he had just been bitch slapped, he couldn't control his anger. Because of this, his fighting style became very sloppy, and Sam used this to her advantage. Both Sam's left shoulder and right hand were very sore. Nothing was broken or seriously damaged, but very sore, so gripping her tonfa would be very difficult. She decided to momentarily go back to dodging Raph's attacks, but she could also feel herself getting slower. Right now they were both showing their weaknesses, and they both were trying to take advantage of this as best as they could. 

As Sam dodged a punch that came in towards her right, her reaction time was slow and the next thing she knew she was being pulled forward and was hit in the stomach with Raph's elbow. As he then let her go, he expected her to feel winded and to stay put as he spun on his right heel and brought his left leg around with him to land a blow to her stomach, but instead she left her right foot planted and pivoted backwards only with her left leg. Just as Raph was bringing his leg down after missing his target, Sam was now doing the opposite of what Raph had just done. While he was bringing his leg back down, Sam swung her left leg backwards while turning on her planted right foot and used her left foot to land a blow right to where the somewhat softer spot on his plastron should have been. She had no idea if the softer spot near the waist line of Mikey's plastron would be on the same location of Raph's plastron or if there was a softer spot at all, but at the moment it was all she had in order to try and win this fight.

Luckily, it had been in the same spot, and this blow actually did a decent job at knocking the wind out of Raph. He took a few seconds to hold his waist as he tried to catch his breath. Since Sam was much weaker than him, it didn't take him too long to recuperate and get ready to fight once again, but wow that had been scary. He couldn't think of a time where he had been hit in that exact location on his plastron, and he was shocked that it left him so winded. He hated to admit it, but this was starting to become more of an enjoyable fight than it was infuriating. Sadly, Sam was at her limit. When she saw that Raph was about to come over and start attacking again, she threw her hands up in defeat. 

"OKAY, okay you win! I surrender to the almighty dauntless!" she said as she bowed forward in front of him. She did so mockingly, but Raph could tell that she was being serious in wanting to stop the fight.  
"Had enough?" he said in a mocking tone.  
"Oh yeah" she replied as she stood up, holding her knee. "I'd love to try and keep going, but sadly any attack I land on you will continue to hurt me more, at least while I'm this twiggy" she said in a sour tone, "and I don't want to cause too much damage to my body. I mean hey I have a game tomorrow, I don't want to lose my future career because of one fight where I never had a shot of winning from the start." 

"Okay wait." Donnie then jumped down and began walking over to where the two opponents were standing, with Leo and Mikey following right behind him.  
"If you knew there was no way you could win this fight, why would you even think of trash talking Raph? You had to know it would lead to this."  
"Well," Sam began, "I wasn't sure what exactly would happen, but I was ready for whatever punishment was in store for my behavior. That and I was mainly just trying to get a rise out the one listening."  
"Wait, you were insulting Raph in order to annoy Leo?" Mikey asked, a mix of curiosity and excitement displayed in his voice and a smile on his face adding to the vocal expression.  
She turned towards Leo with a blank yet irked expression. "I'm not stupid, I saw that your door was open and there was no sound coming from the room, so there was a very high chance that you were listening in on what we were talking about."  
Leo turned his head, pretending to look at something that had caught his eye in the pipes above them. He felt both embarrassed but also slightly ashamed that he had allowed his actions to be detected so easily, both before and after she had begun baiting him with the trash talk.  
"So if you weren't trying to mess with me, why were you so serious when you got over here?" Raph asked.  
Sam chuckled. "To get you pumped to fight me. If Leo just said to fight me then you would instantly say no, so I had to be a bitch" she said with a beaming smile.  
"So what was your overall goal in doing all this?" Donnie asked. "I'm sure there's more to it than just annoying Leo and getting to fight Raph." 

Sam gave them a playful and triumphant smile. "I got all of you to talk to me."  
All of them but Mikey gave her a confused look.  
"Ohhhh" Mikey began with wide eyes, "you knew that Leo was listening in on our conversation, and as a test to see how he would react you said things that you knew would annoy him which would then lead him to come out and confront you. You weren't exactly expecting to fight Raph, but since that was the result, you did what you had to in order to make sure the fight would happen, which was why you spoke with cocky confidence to annoy Raph. And Donnie walking over and joining the group and questioning you was probably just a bonus."  
The remaining brothers stood their speechless. They weren't used to hearing Mikey sound so intelligent.  
Sam nodded with a shocked expression. "Couldn't have said it better myself."  
She reached her knuckle out and the two fist bumped. 

Leo nodded, but he had one final thought that hadn't been answered.  
"Okay, one last question." Sam turned her head towards him, eyebrows raised. "If you wanted to get a rise out of me in the beginning, why did you insult Raph and not me?"  
"Easy, if I insulted you then it would be too obvious that I knew you were listening in on our conversation. Plus I had a strong feeling that insulting Raph would lead to a situation like this, whereas throwing insults at Donnie would lead more to just a formal apology and the whole thing would have ended at that. This scenario ended with all three of you actually starting a conversation with me."  
"My best friend is smarter than yours!" Mikey shouted as he triumphantly threw his hands up in the air. 

Leo and Raph both nodded towards Sam with blank expressions as they began to exit the room. Neither of the two brothers was sure how to feel. They both felt defeated and they definitely didn't like that, but at the same time they both couldn't stop thinking about everything they had both seen and heard from the girl. Not only had she done a great job of fighting an opponent where she was at a huge disadvantage, but she had planned out the entire situation beforehand and ended up getting what she wanted. She may have lost that individual fight, but overall she had won the full battle. Raph was determined to make sure she wouldn't win the overall war, whereas Leo wondered if the tension really needed to continue. 

The two were so caught up in their thoughts that neither of them had seen what Donnie had. The nerdy brother was the only one who saw the glimmer in Sam's eye, and how hard she was fighting to conceal her smile when she heard Mikey call her his best friend. Donnie thought back to his earlier thoughts about whether their friendship was a good thing or not. He knew that Mikey truly cherished it, but he never knew how Sam felt. Based on what he had just seen, he had a feeling that she was also very grateful to have the orange bearing turtle in her life. He overheard the two talking as he walked out of the dojo and headed towards his lab. 

"Come on Sam, let's get back to working on your skateboard!"  
"Hmm?" she said a bit dazed, "Skateboard, right! Let's go!"  
And with that, everyone went back to pick up on where their day had left off.

*Later that day, closer to nighttime*

Donnie was happy with what he had accomplished that day. He had been tinkering around with some of the equipment that he hoped to one day use in what was supposed to become the med wing, but it was getting late, so he wanted to start closing up shop before he fell asleep and would then wake up to a huge mess in the middle of the night. He began putting tools back into drawers and putting equipment back up on shelves. 

He walked over to a shelf to put some small machines back in their places. As he was organizing what went where, he heard a rustling noise behind him. He quickly turned around, but no one was there. He slowly turned around and then swiftly turned back to face the center of the room. In doing so, he caught a frightened Sam standing towards the wall on the opposite side of the room holding a pair of goggles in one hand and a strap in the other. 

Usually Sam would try to play off what had happened with a joke, but she could read Donnie's body language and facial expressions all too well, and it was obvious that he was furious.  
"Why?"  
She paused. "Um, what exactly doe-"  
"As in why are you sneaking into my lab?"  
"Uh, well-"  
"See no, there's no correct answer because you shouldn't be in here." Donnie had tried to stay calm each time the girl had done something that irked him and his brothers, but this had been the last straw for him.  
"Raph verbally fought you earlier because you had touched something that was his, so what makes you think it's okay to sneak in to my lab? I mean this is the only place besides my room that is like my sanctuary, my utopia even, which means that if I don't give you permission to come in here then you need to stay out! I mean, is this like your hobby? Do you enjoy poking into other people's personal lives and taking their belongings? Please, tell me what your reason is for purposefully sneaking into my lab and doing something else that you know you shouldn't be doing, especially after I strictly told Mikey not to let something like this happen again." 

After Donnie had stopped laying into the girl he then noticed that she wasn't smiling, she wasn't responding with any sarcastic comments in a mocking tone, and she wasn't trying to run and hide. She just stood there. Her eyes were glued to the floor and her hands seemed a bit shaky. Finally, she gained the courage to talk to the turtle.

"I just…I didn't want you to get mad at him again…" she mumbled.  
Donnie stood there as the girl continued to look down. He was a bit taken aback at her answer and since he delayed his timing to respond, Sam had continued on with her thoughts.  
"I didn't know he was going to do what he did earlier in lying to get the goggles for me to use, and I know you were probably upset with him doing that. I don't want you guys to keep getting upset at him, he's just trying to be a nice guy. So, even though you hate my guts, I took the risk in sneaking in to get another strap to fix the goggles. I went adjust them and the strap snapped and I didn't want you to get mad at him again. I'm sorry."  
Her arms seemed limp as she laid the goggles and the strap down on the table and turned to walk out of the room. 

"Wait."  
Sam paused, but continued to face the door. She was too afraid to continue facing Donnie.  
Donnie took a deep breath as he thought about what he had just done. More than anything he was hurt when she said that he hated her. He knew that yelling at her like that was wrong. He basically had just let out all the thoughts he had been storing away about this whole situation, but he knew that wasn't right. After a few seconds, he carefully chose his words and began to talk again.  
"So, that's one of the very rare occasions where I turn into Raph, and I apologize for that. I get that Mikey is a good hearted guy and that he just wanted to help you out, but I also don't like strangers invading my space and using my stuff. Then again, this whole situation is due to me still treating you like a stranger. So, in order to somewhat try and fix that, if you ever need anything from my lab, you're free to come in and use whatever you need."  
Sam turned around in annoyance.  
"Seriously? Dude don't get my hopes up like that just to be like 'hey gotcha' and it all be fake" she scowled.  
He tilted his head in confusion. "I'm not joking, as long as you tell me what you're taking, then I'm honestly saying you're allowed in here."  
Sam's eyes went wide. "But…you have super awesome stuff…you'll let me use your super awesome stuff?"  
"Yes."  
"You swear?"  
"I swear."  
"…110% positive?"  
"If you keep asking then I'm going to change my mind."  
Sam smiled a huge smile that reached from one side of her face to the other.  
In return, Donnie also gave her a small smile. "Oh, I don't hate you by the way."  
"Oh…okay. Not sure where that came from, but that's cool."  
"Well you're the one that just said that I hated you."  
Sam pointed towards herself. "I said that you hated me?"  
"Yup."  
"I did?"  
"Let's not do this again, please."  
"Oh…well thanks again!" Sam's face was turning redder and redder as she quickly walked out the room, embarrassed that she had accidentally spoken something that she had been keeping in her thoughts. 

Once Sam had left the room, Donnie went back to organizing his lab. He wanted to be strict about the rules of his lab like he always had, but seeing that expression on her face broke him. Even though it wasn't the smiley expression she had on her face when Mikey had called her his best friend, this depressed look showed how much she truly cared about Mikey just as much and the happier expression had. Donnie could truly tell that she cared about Mikey's relationship with the rest of his family and that she had been hurting from the way Leo, Raph, and himself had been arguing with him about being friends with Sam. That's why he broke and decided to let her come into the lab. If Mikey had bonded with her by letting her in and talking with her, then maybe giving her a chance would also allow him to understand this bond that the two had and why they both cared so much for the other. 

He smiled and chuckled to himself.  
"Heh, things are going to get very interesting with her around."

**Thank you to those who are still reading my story! If any of you get a chance, are there spots where I'm doing well, doing not so well? Are the fight scenes decent at least? I'm new to all of this, so if you have any comments or complaints then please tell me, if you'd like to that is. **

**Thank you again for continuing to read my story even though I'm taking forever to update. Hopefully this chapter makes up for lost time and meets expectations . **


	13. Chapter 13

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. **

Chapter #11

*Later that next day/Sunday evening*

Sam had finally finished adding the new rockets to her skateboard late last night and she couldn't wait to finally test them out this evening. She and Mikey had begun their training that afternoon, (luckily she had an earlier soccer game that weekend which meant she could spend the rest of the day in the lair) and currently they were on break, though this break was also due to both friends wanting to try out the new board as well. The two were standing in the dojo as Mikey began giving instructions. 

"Alright, you have to be careful in the beginning because there's going to be a huge kick from the force from the rockets, which is going to make it really hard to maintain balance and speed. So for now, let's just practice getting you to maintain balance in the air." 

Mikey pulled his board from off his back and placed it on the ground.  
"You have the device right? And you turned it on?"  
In order to get the rockets to work, Donnie had originally created a small device with an on and off switch that his brother could keep in his pocket. This way, if Mikey just wanted to skate around without using the rockets then he could do so. If the switch was turned on, then as soon as pressure was added to the board, the rockets would start working. Sam had studied the design of both Mikey's skateboard and of the control device and built her model based on the design that Donnie had created years ago. 

Sam pulled her control device out of her back pack and turned the rockets on.  
"I'm all set." She then put the device back into her bag.  
"Alright, so first just practice getting your board to levitate off the ground some."  
He then stood on his board, his weight activating the rockets. Slowly the board lifted him a couple feet off the ground. He then stared at Sam to signal that it was her turn to try. She placed her board on the ground and stepped onto it as she slowly started to rise off the ground as well.  
"There you go, nice start. You might want to stop now though."  
"Ummm, how do I stop?" Sam had now passed where Mikey's spot in the air was as she continued to slowly rise up and up.  
"Hop off quick."  
She jumped forward and her board fell to the floor. 

"Heh, guess you need to weigh more than a twig if you want to gain control" Raph said in a nasty tone from the living room. He was sitting on the couch in front of the television as he continued to fight his hardest to gain the top spot in Drive Club, just like he had been doing all day. At times he could still hear Sam and Mikey conversing in the other room, and he never missed a chance to throw some type of snide remark at Sam. 

Mikey just rolled his eyes as he tried his best to ignore his brother.  
"Try again. You have to make sure your knees are bent a bit as the board begins to rise or else it will just keep going up, up, up. If you stand straight and tall then the board will continue to rise, but once you bend your knees some it helps to maintain what height you want to stop or continuing rising at. I'm not exactly sure how all that works and makes sense, but it's what I've learned in all the years that I've been doing this." 

Sam got her board ready and tried again. She stood straight as she first stepped on her board, and once she got about a foot off the ground she bent her knees some. She was still a bit shaky, but she had stopped the board from rising any further.  
"Nice! On to step two, carefully moving forward. Once you get off the ground and reach the height that you want, you then have to slightly lean forward on your board. But be careful because-"  
That fast Sam had already tried leaning forward, but she had leaned a bit too far, and her board had sent her flying into the other room. Luckily she had leaped off the board before it had slammed into the far wall past the living room.  
Mikey sprinted into the living room while Raph laughed as he continued to play his videogames on the couch.  
"Sam, you alright?" he asked with concern.  
Of course, Sam with her typical 'I don't care, it's no big deal' type attitude replied sarcastically.  
"Peachy…" she groaned as her friend helped pull her up off the ground.  
Mikey smiled at her. "Right, I have to keep reminding myself that I don't have to worry about you getting scared of anything or freaking out about something that's potentially dangerous. I'm sure you've done worse."  
"Oh trust me I have" she replied with a chuckle. 

"Twigs do crack easily" Raph called out. 

Mikey closed his eyes as he tried to contain his frustration. The entire time Mikey had been training with Sam, all Raph had done was mock her and throw as many complaints and insults towards her as he could. Splinter wouldn't have let him get away with this, but at the moment he was meditating elsewhere throughout the sewers. There were a few different places underground he would venture off to where it was much quieter than it was at home. At least the other brothers just went and kept to themselves, but Raph purposefully made his presence known, and for the worst reason. Mikey knew that Raph was still upset about everything that had happened the day previous, both about the videogame situation and Mikey's lies, and also that Sam had provided more of a fight than Raph would like to admit. So, as his revenge, he was verbally disrespecting the girl.  
As much as Mikey wanted to continue working with Sam on how to maintain control of her board, he could see that certain wires needed to be fixed after the two hard hits that the board had just received, so he decided that maybe it was time to head back to the dojo for more training. 

"Come one Sam, let's get back to work. Next break we can go back and fix your board."  
She picked up her board and saluted him. "Yes sir!"  
Mikey smiled as he lead the way back to the other room. He was delighted to see that his rude older brothers words hadn't seem to affect the girl at all as she walked with a 'pep in her step.' 

As the two walked across the room and through the large circular opening that lead into the dojo, Sam glimpsed over all the weapons that lined the walls of the opening. She was shocked at how many weapons these guys owned and wondered where they had found them all. As these thoughts swirled around in her head, she stopped and stared at one weapon in particular that caught her eye. Most weapons that were used in pairs were lined along the wall with their other half, but down towards the bottom center of the left wall was a lone sai. In the center of the left wall there were pairs of sai's starting at the top and leading all the way down to the bottom. The largest pair was at the top and as the pairs went down they slowly got smaller and smaller, the smallest being the one sai at the very bottom. It seemed a bit dusty since it probably hadn't been used in a long while based on its size. The handle was a bright red color and had a black engraving of the letters "C.A.P." going from the top to the bottom of the handle. 

Mikey turned around once he realized that he had lost the girls attention.  
"Sam?"  
"Is that Raph's?" she asked softly as she pointed to the lone sai.  
Of course Raph was already walking over to where they were standing once he heard his name.  
"Is what Raphs?" he snarled.  
He looked at what Sam was pointing at and replied with a mix of annoyance and confusion in his voice.  
"Yeah, obviously it's mine. Who's askin-"  
"How long have you had it?"  
Her face was filled with worry and concern, but Raph didn't care.  
"I don't know."  
"Why haven't you been taking care of it?"  
"What?"  
"Why is it dusty and the blade dull?"  
"Because it is."  
"Where'd you find it?"  
"On the ground."  
"How'd you get it?"  
"None of your business!" 

As the two argued, Mikey noticed that Sam's hands were lightly shaking.  
"Sam, you okay?"  
"No she's not! Her family obviously didn't teach her about respecting people's privacy!"  
"Dude can't you just answer some of the questions?!" 

Sam clenched her fists together after the comment Raph made about her family, but she took a deep breath and was able to maintain control of herself. 

"I'm fine, and he's right."  
Raph and Mikey both turned towards her with slightly shocked expressions. Did she just agree with Raph, and at a time when he could hear her? Raph was used to her replying sarcastically or by using a joke to mock him, but she actually listened and agreed with him. 

"He was nice enough to admit that it was his, so he answered one of my questions. I'll just leave it at that." She forced a fake smile and turned towards Mikey. "Come on, let's get back to training."  
He replied with a gentle smile. "Yeah, let's go. Oh I made a list of all the cool moves I'm going to eventually teach you!" 

The two then walked into the dojo. Sam could feel Raph's eyes glaring at her as she walked away from where they had all been standing. Eventually he went back to playing his videogames, and Sam couldn't have been more relieved. Seeing that sai really messed with her head. She hadn't seen that in so long and she so badly wanted to tell Mikey that she just wanted to go home. It had been a long time since she had looked back on the memories of when that sai was in her life, and seeing it so suddenly and without any type of warning was flooding her memory with flashbacks that she wasn't prepared to see. On top of that, Raph being a dick about it AND throwing an insult towards her family just brought on even worse feelings of anger. But luckily Raph had dropped things and went back to playing videogames, and moreover she had her new best friend. Thank goodness he was just being his dorky self that knew how to make her laugh and feel comfortable to bring her back to her senses. He didn't realize it, but him being him was literally saving her right now. She was afraid to think what could have happened if Mikey hadn't been in the room while the argument had gone down, but for now she was going to continue to have as many positive thoughts as possible. She had already cast everyone else out (since they had all ditched and ignored her in the first place) because of her past, and she didn't want it to tear her best friend away either.

*Friday evening/ school ends*

The bell rung and soon the entire school building was filled with noise as students were packing up their belongings and shoving their chairs under their desks so that they could run and catch up to talk with their friends. It was yet again another Friday night and everybody was excited for the plans they had in store. Sam listened to all the commotion as she leaned up against her locker in the hallway. She was currently using her spare phone to map and track locations that were usually hot spots for criminals since her and Mikey had some fun plans in store for that night. She was so absorbed in what she was doing that she didn't notice the five guys that walked over to her until she head the *slam!* of a lacrosse stick against the locker in front of her, the stick passing right by the front of her face.  
"Dang, you didn't even flinch! How do you do that?"  
Sam smiled as she looked up at Kyle, the most energetic of the five boys. 

The Asian males in front of her were all members of her soccer team that she was a part of outside of school. Kris, Key, Kyle, Kevin, and Ken had known Sam for years and were some of the few people who actually talked to her in school. The only time they ever talked to her was when she was the only one in the hallway or if they got paired up in class, that and of course they talked to her at games and practices, but that's where the conversations would end. Them being on the same soccer team was the main reason they talked to her in general, but they were also some of the handful of people her age she had known since she was a kid. Each of them had siblings who had been friends with Jamie, Amber, Brian, and some now still friends with Jay, and then eventually also befriended the rest of her Caucasian family members. 

Key walked over and threw his arm around Kyle's shoulder.  
"Gee, you treat girls like that and you wonder why you're still single" he said mockingly. "So Sam, you coming to the final game today? You'll be surrounded by mostly Asian people" he said with a smirk.  
Jokingly, Sam put her hand over her heart. "Oh goodness, you know that's my dream come true, how could I ever resist?" Key rolled his eyes and smiled before going back to messing with Kyle.  
"What's that?" Kevin asked. He participated in many of the same academic clubs as Sam and was interested in the gadget she was using.  
"Just an old phone I re-wired and sometimes use for simple things like GPS."  
"You going somewhere?"  
"Just looking for some places to hangout tonight."  
He gave her a confused look. "I thought you were coming to the game."  
"I am, but Jay is heading out with his group afterwards and I'd rather not be the awkward…whatever wheel I'll be since everyone in their group is dating someone now."  
"Oh, so you're going out afterwards" he said as he raised his eyebrows in shock.  
"Yeahhhh…" she said with a funny expression as she wondered where the boy was heading with these questions.  
"You're going out with someone" Ken smirked.  
"I am. With me, myself and I. The best trio you'll ever meet."  
"You're behavior says otherwise madam" Ken replied.  
"Ex-squeeze me?"  
"You didn't even notice us walk up behind you, and you ALWAYS deflect any move I make. And it's not easy being able to deflect THESE!" he shouted as he showed off his muscles.  
"Better confess now before I tell the future brother in law" Kris smirked. Kris was the younger brothers to Jay's girlfriend, Brenda.  
"…you wouldn't…" she said with a worried expression.  
"Then it looks like you better confess."  
"*sigh* okay I may have made a new friend recently" Sam stated timidly.  
"OOOOHHHH!" Key, Ken, and Kyle went crazy as they put their hands over their mouths. Kris and Kevin who were usually the somewhat calmer ones of the group even joined in on teasing her.  
"Wow, and big brother doesn't know a thing! It would be such a shame for him to find out."  
"Dude, Kris c'mon. I mean it's no big deal like we just met…a few weeks ago…I think?" 

Sam had been spending so much time with her new friend that she honestly had lost track of the time. How long had she and Mikey been hanging out? She knew it had been about a week now that she had been hanging out in the lair, but she couldn't recall how long the two had been hanging out altogether. 

Kris made a serious face now, leading the other three to do the same.  
"Spill, where'd you meet?"  
"Subway."  
"Were you alone?"  
"I was traveling by myself but the area was crowded."  
"How old is he?"  
"15." 

She then felt Key put his right arm over her shoulders and Kyle put his left arm around her waist.  
"So it's a he?" they asked in unison.  
Sam froze as she realized what she had said. Usually she was calm and collected in situations like this, but lately she found herself slipping more and more. Was a new best friend that much of a distraction? 

"…It's a he."  
"OOOHHHH!" all five boys exclaimed as they jumped up and down in the empty hallway.  
The five boys continued to tease Sam as they all exited the building. They each waved goodbye to each other, but Kris called out to her once the other three had walked away some.  
"Don't worry, we'll keep your secret, just be careful okay?"  
She smiled playfully. "Am I not always careful?"  
He smiled as he looked down and then back at her, his hands tightly holding onto the straps of his backpack.  
"You are, but…it's just been awhile."  
"What do you mean?"  
"You being this energetic and happy. Before you say anything" he said with his hands up in defense, "I'm not saying you're always down in the dumps or anything, but you've just…been on your own for a while. I haven't seen you this goofy since, well, before everything happened. I just don't want you to let your guard down. I know some shitty guys and I just don't want you hanging around anyone like them."  
Sam's smile shrunk, but still remained on her face.  
"Don't worry. Just because I found someone who has the same interests as me and is easy to talk to doesn't mean I'm going to go soft and allow them to do whatever they want to me. I still know how to kick ass and look for red flags. I got this" she said, swiping her hands over her shoulders.  
Kris laughed so loud he had to instantly cover his mouth. He wasn't used to seeing her act so silly anymore and it was hilarious to see her act this way again.  
He reached his arm out and Sam walked forward as the two hugged. As the two let go and Kris turned to go join his friends, she said some last words of thanks to her childhood friend.  
"Thanks for still caring, even though I'm sure Jay asked you to check up on me."  
"Honestly he did, since he knows I look after you like you're my own sister. But I'm glad I did."  
He turned to go jog after his friends. "I've missed you kid!" he said as he took off.  
"You can't call me kid when we're the same age!" she called out to him.  
She saw him turn his head back for one last smile, and then he turned a corner and was gone.

As Sam walked towards her apartment building, she began to process what Kris had told her. He missed her? She had never left, she had been here the whole time. Even during her dark days she had been here, it was everyone else who had turned on her. She was confused at what he had meant by that, that and all the comments about her being so happy and fun again. Jay had said that the last time they hung out as well. She hadn't really noticed a change in herself until she realized what Kyle had been talking about earlier. She froze in place along the street as the thoughts processed through her head. He was right, all five of the boys had walked right up behind her and she hadn't really paid any attention to who it was. Usually she was always on alert of her surroundings, and knowing that her being so wrapped up in her plans with Mikey for later that night had distracted her like that began to worry her. She then remembered the previous weekend when she had been fighting along-side her new best friend and made note of her composure then, and as she thought of other moments like this she began to calm down and started to walk again.  
"_Okay, I haven't forgotten all I've been taught, I just need to be more aware. I can still be happy and excited, I just can't let my emotions get in the way. I still have to be very cautious of my surroundings and I also need to find ways to prepare myself for sudden situations that require quick thinking. I definitely need a refresher on that."_

The rest of the way home Sam couldn't keep herself from smiling. As she continued to process what the boys had told her, she was now really beginning to notice the effects of her friendship with Mikey. She had been distracted because of her plans for later that night, which was a first for her because until what she assumed had been a matter of weeks ago, she never had plans. She was thrilled knowing that she would continue to have this excitement every night since her and Mikey always hung out together. He was literally the perfect friend for her, not only because they both had a lot of the same interests, but also because he seemed to egg on her inner adrenaline junkie self. Instead of reprimanding her for jumping roof tops and for sneaking into buildings, he joined her in doing so. And now he was actually turning her into even more of an adrenaline junkie by helping her train and even by helping her master her skills on her newly updated skateboard. 

She realized that for the first time in a very long time that she felt feelings of safety and comfort that she hadn't felt in a long time. Thanks to Mikey she was never alone because she was either with him or thinking about him as she looked into places to go or for things to do with him. She wasn't even upset that the five childhood friends she had just talked to never even mentioned her coming to hang out with them until their game started, or even after it ended, because she knew that she was already heading somewhere else. She was a bit hurt that Kris still only saw her as a sister, but at the same time she had been so preoccupied lately that she hadn't really been thinking of romantic feelings towards anyone, so it didn't bother her as much as it had in the past. 

When she got to her room she realized that she had received a message on her phone from Mikey asking if she was okay. She was supposed to head straight home after school, get what she needed for that night, and then head down to the sewers. As she updated Mikey on what had happened, that quickly she forgot all about past romances and was only focused on getting ready as quickly as she could so that she could go see her best friend.


	14. Chapter 14

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. **

Chapter #12

*Late Friday Night* 

Sam and Mikey were both laying across the couch, Sam's back up against the left arm and Mikey's up against the right. Their legs laid out across the couch as the two faced each other. They both held their own white boards and markers. Mikey had learned Japanese while learning the ways of ninjutsu with his family, and Sam had learned some Korean from her adopted siblings, so the two were slowly teaching some words and phrases from the language they knew to the friend sitting across from them. 

Sam picked up a card from the table.  
"The next word-phrase is…hello." 

The two then began writing what they believed should have been the correct words of the language they were learning on their white boards. Sam lifted hers first.  
The board read:

*** **こんにちは**  
****Konnichiwa *  
**

Mikey looked at the board and gave her a thumbs up. Sam had started lightly studying the language since she would be taking the AP Japanese test during her senior year of high school, so she was doing a pretty good job at correctly spelling words, both the kanji for the words and in their Romanized forms.  
Sam nodded towards Mikey.  
"Alright, let's see what you've got."  
Mikey's board read:

***여보세요****  
Yeoboseyo*** 

Sam tapped her fingers against each other which made Mikey confused.  
"Did I get it wrong? I could have sworn I had this one right."  
Sam tilted her head some.  
"Well technically this is correct since the card didn't specify the situation. Usually people say yeoboseyo when they're on the phone. Do you know how people greet each other face to face?"  
Mikey froze for a second and then began writing on his white board. He then flipped the board around, it now read:

*******안녕****  
Annyeong*  
**

Sam leaned her fist forward and the two fist bumped.  
"Well look at you, only studying for a week and you've already learned so much."  
"Heh, don't tell my brothers. They'll literally make the biggest deal out of me learning anything within a week."  
"Speaking of your brothers…" she turned her head and looked all around the room for any sign of the others and Mikey searched as well. "I think we're free to go."  
He nodded and the two stood up. 

Without hesitation they both got out their boards, ran over toward the nearest exit, and took off. The rockets on both boards activated and sent the two of them speeding down the tunnels of the sewers. Throughout that week the two had mapped out various escape routes for moments like this where they needed to meet quickly. They would never tell the other three, or anyone for that matter, but Mikey hadn't just been training Sam so that she could defend herself, he wanted her as a teammate when kicking bad guy butt as well. He had been teaching her different tactics to use both to defend herself in one-on-one and in group battles. He had also helped her learn to maintain control of her skateboard for quick getaways. 

Once they reached the intended manhole cover, they both climbed up the ladder that lead to the surface and then traveled on up to the top of the building in front of them. They both started setting up for that night as they talked. 

"Not gonna lie, moving at that speed makes me feel like a total badass" Sam said as she checked all the devices that she had brought with her in her back pack.  
"You're welcome for that!" Mikey replied as he pat down his pockets, making sure that all weapons he brought with him were secure.  
"I hate your man shorts" she said playfully, putting her brown hair back into a ponytail and clipping back what little of the side bangs that she had.  
"Hey, what did my man shorts ever do to you?"  
"They have hella pockets! It's not fair, guys get tons of pockets on their pants, and I'm stuck with this!" she said as she tugged at the fake stitched on pockets of her black jeggings. "Like who came up with this?"  
"The people that make bags?"  
She pointed at him in approval. "Exactly! And it sucks! They make it so that woman purposefully have to buy designer bags. But I don't like their bags, so instead I got this beauty!" She said as she turned around and pointed to her amazing back pack that could hold almost any and everything in it.  
"You still didn't have to hate on my man shorts though" he pouted.  
She turned around and smiled. "Alright, I apologize for hating on your man shorts. Your man shorts are alright, everyone else's man shorts can kiss my ass. Better?"  
"Better! Alright, so where are we going? Anyone ready to meet our fists yet?" 

Sam pulled out her fixed phone and began typing away.  
"Watcha doin?"  
"I'm trying to connect my device to police phones, radios, cameras, things like that within their building. If they're talking about a possible robbery or that someone's cat got stuck in a tree, we'll know about it before they can even officially send a team out to go help. I'm sure we can get there sooner than they would anyway. Here, you can watch video footage from this" she said as she handed him a small tablet. "Once I play around with this for a few minutes, you'll be able to view any conversations being held at police headquarters." 

It was about 11:00 at night when the two began listening in for any information on local crimes and finally around 11:45 the two heard some interesting information. 

"Hey Sam, you might want to check this out."  
Sam looked over her friends shoulder and watched what was happening on the tablet. The two watched as some officers were at a display board as they talked about the recent crimes that had been caused by the Foot clan. They mentioned that the Foot had been stealing records on famous scientists and had also been breaking into their houses, but they weren't sure exactly what the point of these crimes were. As the officers talked, Mikey noticed something on the evidence board behind the officers. 

"Hey, does that white board mention something about the Sachs estate?"  
Sam paused the screen and then zoomed in on the section that Mikey had been talking about.  
"Yeah, it's talking about scientists, doctors, different people that worked on location at the estate. Sachs is the guy who worked under Shredder right? The one who attacked you guys a few months back?"  
"Yeah that's him, still can't believe the Foot helped him escape before the police could get to him."  
"Well according to the notes on the board, he's back in action and he's been helping Shredder track down and locate where all his past employees have been hiding. Looks like he's not done with them. They're all in hiding after what he forced them into in the past, and it seems that he's trying to have the past repeat itself."  
"I wonder what he wants them for this time."  
"Well, it looks like he's targeting this one guy in specific." Sam moved the screen over a bit and zoomed in on a profile that had a huge star next to it. "Professor Jordon Perry. He worked at TCRI until he was recruited by Sachs to work at his estate, which at the time was seen as a huge honor. It says he was one of the top scientists and almost recreated his own mutagen that, based on what I read from Donnie's files that I sort of stole from you guys, would have closely matched the mutagen that was used to mutate you guys, but just as they were about to start testing it is when Sachs reunited with April and instantly he went after you guys instead."  
"Do you think that's he going after this dude so that he can get that old mutagen back?"  
"I have a strong feeling that that's what Shredder wants. Oh, look at this! This part of the board shows a few different places that Perry has been moved around to hide at."  
"Why is that place circled though? Does it says what's so special about it?"  
"…I wonder if that's where they're going to attack next…"  
"Does that meannnnnnn?"  
She looked over and smiled at him. "It means we're going to go and check it out."  
She put her fist out in front of her. "Cowabunga."  
He bumped his fist against hers. "Booyakasha."  
The two packed up all the devices, Sam put her face mask on, and the two began running along the roof tops. 

Mikey began to laugh as he noticed the cute teddy bear mouth on his friends surgical mask.  
"A bear, really? You couldn't use something more tough and scary?"  
"Hey! When they see this, they won't be prepared for me to kick their butts!...Plus its cute…"  
"What happened to being a tomboy?"  
"I'm still a girl you dork, and regardless of gender I'm still allowed to like cute things. Being a tomboy means that I'm just not as feminine and girly as most women, not that I have to be a stereotypical man."  
"Heh, it's so easy to set you off. Like you make it incredibly easy."  
"Yeah, yeah. Keep attacking my style and I'll start insulting your man shorts again."  
"Oh no not the shorts!" he shouted sarcastically. 

After about twenty minutes or so, the two reached their destination. Perry was currently staying in a hotel room, and Sam and Mikey were hiding out in the parking garage below said hotel. 

"Okay, I know the board said Perry was staying here…but why are we so far down below?" Mikey asked.  
Sam was getting her weapons ready. "As we were looking at the evidence board, I overheard the officers saying that Perry was going to be moved to another hotel again tonight. If the professor is in hiding then he would be moved somewhere down here where nobody would see him. I think there's a good chance the Foot soldiers are going to try and capture the professor down here. And right on time, there he is." 

The two watched as a couple of officers got off an elevator with Perry right by their side. As they walked over to a cop car that was parked nearby, about 10 Foot soldiers appeared, 5 being actual Foot and the other 5 being Huns men. They were so fast that it literally seemed like they had all appeared out of thin air.  
"Come on, let's go this way."  
Mikey motioned for Sam to follow him. As the soldiers all circled the officers and the professor, the two ninjas carefully and quietly traveled around the garage without being seen. Within seconds the soldiers knocked the officers unconscious. Just as they were about to grab a hold of the professor, they heard multiple swishing sounds. Before they could do anything, multiple shuriken knifes were being thrown at them. The trained Foot soldiers easily dodged them and fell back so that they could figure out what was going on. The remaining soldiers however just started shooting in the direction that the shuriken had been thrown from. Just after Sam had thrown the shuriken, she and Mikey had begun charging the standing soldiers. Sam aimed at knocking the weapons out of their hands as Mikey aimed using his nunchucks to knock out the soldiers.  
"Yeah bruh, like shadows in the night!"  
"Yeah, but these shadows aren't done yet. We need to guard the professor as we take out those five."  
"Can you get those elevators open?" Mikey asked as he pointed towards the wall behind the soldiers.  
"I still have a ways to go, but I think my aim is decent enough that I could get them open. You take three and I take two?"  
"What about the professor?"  
"Oh he passed out already. Unless Shredder has more guys around, then he's not going anywhere."  
"Alright, game on!" 

The two charged towards the remaining Foot soldiers. Sam threw two kunai knifes and both landed on the buttons to the hotel elevators, and immediately both sets of doors opened. Due to how fast he had been running, Mikey's charged attack made backing the soldiers into the elevator quite easy. Since Sam was obviously much shorter and thinner than her mutated friend, she used her speed to help her leap over the soldiers, who then chased and followed her into the elevator. The two did so assuming that they would easily be able to take out this girl, but to their surprise she kept up with them the entire time they were in the small room. The two swung their swords, but every time they swung, Sam quickly dodged. Using the techniques Mikey taught her about maintaining balance and stamina, Sam was able to move swiftly while dodging attacks from the two soldiers, waiting for the right moment to attack. Finally, one of the soldiers had lost his balance for a split second, and that fast Sam had rolled over his body, and when doing so she swung one of her tonfa under his stomach where it connected with her other hand. Using both hands, she stood up and pulled back on the tonfa, pulling the man into an upright position. She successfully used him as a shield to block a solid kick from the other soldier. As the shield soldier collapsed to the floor in pain, the doors opened. Sam sprinted out of the elevator and ran to the staircase. As she ran up, she pulled a small walkie talkie out of the side of her bag. 

"Genos to Saitama, where are you?" She said in a rushed voice as she ran. The two had decided days previous that they needed a quick way to communicate when in battle, so Sam had bought two small round walkies that the two could easily carry around with them.  
"Saitama has taken out the enemy and is heading back down in the elevator, where are you Genos?"  
"Ironically heading in the opposite direction. I still have one guy left."  
"Alright, heading back in your direction!" 

Sam reached the top of the staircase and ran to the center of the roof of the building. Not long after, the soldier had caught up to her and was charging at her. The two continued their fight on the top of the building. They kept up with each other very well, making it hard for either to find a weak moment from the other, so all they could do was attack, dodge, and block, with no real damage being done. Sam was the first to lose her balance for a split second, and the soldier knocked one of her tonfa out of her hand. It flew far enough back behind Sam that it would be impossible to turn back now and reach for it. Instead, she grasped onto the remaining tonfa like it was a baseball bat and swung at the soldiers head in his open moment. Her weapon connected with the side of his face and he stumbled back some. Sam leaped backwards, creating more space between the two. She then got out a few more shuriken and threw them towards the soldier. He dodged all of them with ease, but wasn't able to move away in time. Sam threw her knifes so fast as she charged towards the man that he could dodge, but he couldn't move away from where he was standing. Sam took advantage of this and instead of throwing her final shuriken, which the man was expecting, she shoved a kunai knife into his shoulder as she pushed him back. She pushed him back far enough that his shoulder was now pinned up against the wall. As the man was pinned, Sam brought her foot up and connected it first with the man's stomach, and then her fist with his face, knocking him unconscious. 

"Wow, now that was truly incredible" Mikey said as he slowly clapped.  
"How long have you been up there?"  
"I got up here a little bit before that got knocked away from you" he said as he pointed back towards the fallen tonfa.  
"…I meant to do that by the way" Sam said as she walked back to pick up her weapon.  
"Oh sure, and Saitama isn't actually bald, he's just wearing a clear cap."  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever" She said playfully. "But I thought for a first time out I wasn't that bad."  
Mikey smiled at his friend as he put a hand on her shoulder. "Powerful you have become, more training I sense for you."  
Sam rolled her eyes. "And what happened to your guys?" she asked as she gave him a quizzical look.  
"PATIENCE YOU MUST HAVE YOUNG PADAWAN!" he said as he walked over and picked up the injured soldier.  
"Oh god what did you do?"  
"Well" he started timidly as the two began walking down the stairs of the building, "let's just say that after you contacted me, one of the soldiers decided to get back up and fight some more, and he accidentally hit a button that stalls the elevator. So now the three soldiers are kind of bloody and bruised…and someone is going to awkwardly come across them once the elevator begins working again. Hehe."  
"Looks like we should get ready for a quick getaway soon" she said with a playfully sneaky look. 

Once they reached the lowest level, the two tied up all the remaining soldiers.  
"Sam, what do we do with the professor?"  
"Hmmm, I guess it would be best to at leave him back at his room. Let's do that and get out of here." 

The two secretly dropped the professor off outside his hotel room, and made their way back up to the top of the building. They were too high up for Sam's liking. She had done a great job of mastering how to use her new board, but she wasn't anywhere near as skilled as Mikey was, so he let her jump onto his back until they reached a lower level. Once she was secured tightly, Mikey hopped onto his board and glided down to a nearby building that was much lower than the one they were on. Once they were both back on their feet, they ran along the roof tops of the nearby buildings until they found a manhole cover in one of the alleys. They climbed down and then hid out in the sewers. 

Once they were hidden below the surface, Sam got her phone and tablet out again to see if the police had been notified about anything. From what it seemed, they knew nothing about what had gone down that night. Just to be safe, she hacked into the hotels security camera footage to delete any evidence of their presence. Sam looked up at Mikey and put her fist out for a fist bump, signaling to her friend that all footage had been wiped and that there was no visual evidence of them being there that night. 

Mikey returned the gesture and helped his friend pack up.  
"Dang, you progress quickly Sam. That was incredible what you did back there. You're now able to hold your own against two soldiers, something you struggled with only about a week ago."  
"Well hey, that's what happens when you have a great teacher" she said as she gently nudged his shoulder.  
Mikey rubbed the back of his head feeling a bit bashful from her comment. "You really think so?"  
"Are you kidding?! You're the one that helped me with speed training, maintaining balance and stamina, everything that went through my head as I fought those two was advice and techniques you taught me this past week. You're literally the reason I was able to win that fight! It's like, you're L and I'm Near!"  
"So, I'm a dead guy?"  
"Ugh, noooo!" she said, playfully rolling her eyes.  
"Haha I know, I know. Even though I wasn't the one fighting, because of my training I still won the battle through my student. Just like how L technically defeated Kira through his protégé Near."  
"That…that was a beautiful explanation" she teased as she pretended to wipe a tear away from fake crying eyes. Mikey smiled as he lightly shoved her, to which Sam put her hands up in defense.  
"Okay, I'm joking! But seriously I'm glad you got that reference. Thanks."  
"Don't worry I got you. So, what should our code names be next time?"  
"How about No Pockets and Man Shorts?"  
"Pfft! Okay, sounds great" Mikey said as he burst out laughing. 

The two continued to walk throughout the sewers. As Mikey went to turn one way, Sam turned the other way.  
"Oh, you heading home?" he asked.  
"Aren't you coming with me?"  
He tilted his head to the side. "Why aren't we heading back to my place?"  
"Because then your brothers would ask where we went. If we both stay at my place, then they'll assume we were there the whole time."  
Mikey nodded his head in approval. "Having a genius as a best friend definitely comes in handy."  
"You're welcome" she said as she mockingly bowed in front of him.  
He playfully shoved her, but accidentally did so with a little more force than he intended. As he laughed hysterically, Mikey pulled out his board and took off towards Sam's house, knowing that she would easily get her revenge if she caught up to him.

Sam followed him on her board, and without realizing it, the two had spent about an hour just chasing each other around the sewers. 

Their mission had been a success, so now they decided to kick back and just have some fun for the rest of the night.  
-

***Sunday May 25****th****/ early morning around 4a.m.***

Leo and his father were just ending their late night/early morning meditation session. They both had had some trouble when trying to fall asleep during the night, so they decided that now might be a good time to meditate since it was so peaceful and quiet. Usually by the end of late night meditation sessions, the two would be ready for bed, and once again it had worked. 

The two had been meditating in Splinter's room underneath the central piece of the living room of the lair. They both wanted to go get a quick drink of water before they officially went to bed that night, but as they walked up the small stairs to exit the small space, they saw something that surprised them both. As they turned around to head towards the kitchen area, there was Sam with multiple bags of groceries. She was stocking their fridge and cabinets with multiple different foods. 90% of the time it was Mikey who did all the cooking, so no one had really realized that there were now new foods in the kitchen, until now that was. Sam was carefully putting the food away so that she wouldn't wake anyone, that and she didn't want anyone knowing that she had been doing this ever since she had been allowed to visit the lair. She had done a good job at moving gracefully as she quietly put the food away, until her spectators surprised the heck out of her. 

"Is this all for a late night snack, young one?" Splinter asked.  
Sam quickly spun around and threw the last plastic bag of food over her shoulder, attempting to hide it, only to have burst open. She smiled as she faced them, pretending to ignore that she had basically just chucked a few containers of flavorful spices and things of that such behind her.  
"Heyyyyyy, you guys. You're awake…Why?"  
Leo had to look away in order to keep himself from laughing at the epic fail he just witnessed.  
Splinter sincerely smiled back at the girl. "We've been known to meditate when we have trouble sleeping. You're awake. Why?"  
Sam's eyebrows went up. "I left something here."  
The two responded with quizzical expressions.  
"You left something?" asked Leo.  
"Yup."  
"And that is?"  
"My comic book."  
Splinter sat down at the table in the kitchen, he just had to continue listening in on where this silly conversation was going.  
Leo continued to question the girl. "You think you left your comic book in the kitchen cabinets?"  
"Yeah, maybe when I went to get a snack."  
"From the snacks that you brought that is."  
She looked at him inscrutably, making it hard to tell what she was thinking.  
"I don't know what you're talking about."  
"You mean you didn't put all that extra food in our cabinets and fridge, the food that none of us can go up to the surface and buy ourselves?"  
"No."  
"Then where did it come from?"  
"…it was already there."  
Splinter had to fight hard not to laugh at this nonsense.  
"And what about the containers behind you?" Leo asked.  
"They were like that when I got here."  
"Ah, right. I must have missed them, you know, the entire time I've been in the lair, all day."  
"Well, maybe someone snuck in here when you were meditating" she said as she turned to start picking up the containers.  
"Oh someone entered the lair alright" he said amusingly.  
Sam froze and turned to glare at him, but Leo could tell that she did so in a chipper manner.  
Sam stood up and laid the containers on the counter and began to walk away towards Mikey's room.  
"Whelp this was fun but I'm gonna go join my friend we were watching a movie anyway it was one of the Avengers films you should totally check it out its part of a great series mkay bye" she said within one breath. 

Once she had exited the room and the two heard a door shut, they tried to stay quiet as they let out their laughter.  
"I can see why she has become such good friends with Michelangelo, she acts just like him" Splinter chuckled.  
"I knew it had to be her, since everything Mikey makes has extra toppings or flavors that we never tasted until she showed up, yet she still tried to play it off like she didn't know anything. It's literally like talking to a female Mikey" Leo replied.  
"How have things been with our new guest around?" the rat asked his oldest son.  
Leo paused for a few seconds. "Not bad, but not good either."  
Splinter sent him a disheartened look. "How so my son?"  
"*sigh* I think we're all still a little on edge with her around. Obviously Mikey trusts her, but she still seems suspicious to the rest of us, especially Raph. He's still set on the idea that she's secretly plotting against us and that eventually she's going to lead the Foot to our hideout."  
Splinter nodded. "I understand why you all feel that way, I felt that way when Donatello grew worried about what she had stolen from him. But I still sense an overall peaceful aura from her."  
"Overall, sensei?"  
"I feel that she has some skeletons hiding in her closet, but besides that, she seems to be a sweet girl who is just looking for something unique to change her life. It seems that Michelangelo was the answer to her prayer."  
Leo smiled lightly.  
"Yeah, it seems so. I just hope that she stays true to this peaceful aura. Hopefully Mikey ends up being the one to prove us wrong, and not Raph who ends up being the one to claim that he was right."  
-

***Later that day/Sunday afternoon*  
**

The four brothers had made their way into the dojo, kneeling in a line in front of their sensei. They listened to Splinter discuss what they were going to practice that day. He had all of their attentions, except for Raph who was easily distracted by someone who wasn't even in the dojo. Sam was sitting crisscross in one of the four circular openings that lead into the dojo. She was sitting in the top left opening while she had her headphones on and listened to some music as she worked away, but only Mikey knew what she was working on since it was related to their secret outings. Even though she was higher up, Raph could only focus on the music he heard coming from her headphones. The music wasn't blaring throughout the room or anything, but because Raph still loathed having the girl around, every little thing she did ticked him off. Without realizing that he was completely ignoring and disrespecting his father, Raph stood up and threw a kunai knife so that so that it hit the edge of the opening. He knew it would miss her face, but that it would also travel so fast that it would catch her attention. He knew his plan worked when he saw her lean her head over the edge and call out "you rang?" 

"RAPHAEL!" Splinter yelled to his son, only for the teen to continue ignoring and disrespecting him.  
"Turn your shitty music down! How am I supposed to concentrate when I can hear it from all the way down here?" he shouted as he glared up at her.  
"Shitty? I wasn't listening to your mixtape" she said with a wry smile. She stood up and walked over to a pole along the edge of the opening and slid down to where everyone else was standing.  
"Heh, it's like you want me to kick your ass again."  
"With you gardening tools? Or your chubby arms?"  
"With these guns" Raph said as he clenched his fists, resulting in his muscles flexing and his veins popping all the way from his wrists to his shoulders.  
"You know" Sam said as she crossed her arms and responded with a mocking smile, "they say that guys with huge egos, are really small in other places."  
"I'm gonna kick your-"  
"ENOUGH" Splinter shouted. Both heads turned toward him as their faces went a bit red. 

"Pffftt!" Mikey and Donnie had to cover their mouths to prevent themselves from laughing.  
Leo closed his eyes tight, trying not to laugh and to act mature throughout this whole situation.  
Splinter just sighed in frustration.  
"I see there is still some tension between you two?" he asked.  
"No there's not-"  
"YEAH!" Sam excitedly said with a smile as she cut the hot headed turtle off, purposefully messing with his head even more.  
Splinter closed his eyes, wondering how he could try to settle things. After a few seconds, he came up with a solution.  
"Alright" he said with a wicked smile, "how about a little competition between you two?"  
Raph gave his father a confused look. "Why the heck would we do that?"  
"Because the loser will be sent to the hashi" he said wickedly.  
"Oooooh" the other brothers replied.  
"The what?" Sam asked.  
"The hashi" Raph replied, with a huge wicked grin spreading across his face. "That would be the perfect way to teach you not to mess with me and to keep your bratty mouth shut."  
"Um hey, hi, you're not the only one with skills. Depending on the type of challenge, there's still a chance I can kick your butt."  
"Pft, doubt it."  
Sam turned towards Mikey. "Soooo, I still don't know what the hashi is."  
"Welllll, it's a room where you basically push your body to limits that are extremely uncomfortable and it makes you feel like you're being tortured. But, good luck!" he said as he apologetically shrugged his shoulders.  
Sam smiled as she rubbed her hands together. "When do we start?" 

Donnie and Leo sat along the edge of the dojo where it dipped down and created a ledge. They would have just walked away and wouldn't have given this competition a second glance, but after seeing how the girl held up against Raph the other day, the two decided to get comfy and watch the battle that was about to unfold. Mikey walked over and sat next to his brothers, hoping that his best friend would be able to hold her own in whatever the challenge was. 

"Alright Samantha, what are your interests and hobbies?" Splinter asked the girl.  
"Soccer and dance" she said beaming with pride.  
"How often do you train for each?"  
"Combined, 8 hours a week. That's not including practice at home, actual games and performances, regular work out sessions, gym class, or other random or daily physical activities."  
The old rat nodded his head. "Alright, you two are going to race each other."  
Both competitors gave him a disturbed look. "That's it?" they asked in unison.  
"Heh, this will be a race to see who has the most physical strength and stamina. You must complete: 100 crunches, pull-ups, push-ups, and then laps from one wall to the other."  
"QUESTION!" Sam shouted as she waved her hand in the air, Raph grunting in response to the girl's childish antics.  
"Yes?" Splinter replied with a blank expression.  
"When you say 100 laps, does that mean running from left to right is one lap, or is running from left to right then back to left is one lap?"  
"Hmmm, let's go with the latter."  
Sam nodded. "Alright, let's do this." 

***Some time later***

"There's no way she can beat him, right Donnie?" asked Leo.  
"Well, where Raph wins in muscle, Sam wins in speed. She may actually have a chance."  
"What do you mean a chance? She's right behind him!" Mikey shouted. 

The two were now coming to a close on the pull-ups section of their race, and Raph was in the lead by about 10 pull-ups. Because of his large muscles, he had the advantage in moving quicker when it came to the portion of the competition that relied solely on muscle, however, Sam still wasn't that far behind. She continued to fight on, knowing that once she got to the speed section of the challenge that she would have the upper hand. Raph finished his final pull-up and dropped to the ground, starting his first push-ups as soon as he could. After a few minutes had passed, he noticed that the girl had yet to drop down next to him.  
"Hmph, you give up already toothpick?"  
"Think again cotton ball."  
Raph looked behind him as he continued his push-ups and his eyes went wide in shock. Rather than her dropping down to begin her push-ups, Sam had swung herself forward and up so that her feet were in the air and she had started her push-ups while holding the pole and facing downwards.  
"Isn't that cheating?" Raph called out.  
"I'll allow it" Splinter replied.  
Thanks to this tactic, Sam's momentum never broke, whereas Raph's had broken for a few seconds as he stopped and started up again when moving from the pole to the ground. Even so, Raph still stayed ahead by about five push-ups. After some time, Raph finished first and began his laps. He thought he had a pretty decent head start, until he felt a quick breeze go past him.  
"_She's running already?!" _he thought to himself. He was even more shocked when he looked up and saw that she was quickly closing in on him. 

Donnie had an electric score board, and every time the two completed whatever their task was correctly, he upped the number by one. Each time the two touched the other wall, their number went up by one, and Sam was very close to Raph. He was able to stay in the lead with a well maintained speed for the most past, but about halfway through his laps, he was only about a few steps ahead of Sam. At lap 55, the two were neck and neck with each other. Raph couldn't believe how fast this girl was, and not only that, but the fact that she didn't seem that tired out. Obviously both were sweating like crazy and both were also starting to slow down bit by bit, but overall they both still had a lot of power within them. For the rest of the race the two were always right next to each other. 

"This is incredible" Leo stated with wide eyes.  
"This is nothing to her" Mikey replied, "When it comes to speed and strength, Sam trains like this weekly, I mean she needs to if she plans on going pro."  
Leo nodded. "Still, this is the second time that she has proven that can keep up with Raph, it's just hard comprehending that an everyday human can do that."  
"Not to mention her technological skills," Donnie cut in. "I mean, is there anything this girl can't do?"  
"Kill bugs" Mikey said bluntly.  
His two brothers slowly turned towards him. "Are…are you being serious?" Donnie asked.  
"Dead serious. She HATES bugs. Like whenever one comes near her she freaks out. That and she has a fear of heights." 

"DUDE SHUT UP!" She shouted.  
The three turned back towards Raph and Sam who were just about to end the race. 

"Wow, it's really going to be a photo finish" Donnie claimed.  
They were at lap 97…98…99…and just as they were about to end in a tie, the most random thing happened. Because of all the non-stop movement, Sam's laces became loser and loser, and since she couldn't stop to tie them back up, there was nothing she could do to save herself from tripping over her completely untied shoelaces during the last lap. 

Raph would have been celebrating and rubbing it in in Sam's face that he won, and Sam would have been yelling about how this wasn't fair, but the two were too out of breath to say a single word.  
"Ahhh Samantha, you held up a good fight, but I'm afraid it's time to head…TO THE HASHI!" Splinter shouted. 

Sam laid on her back and held up the one minute sign to Splinter as she tried to catch her breath, terrified of what exactly it was that she would have to do next. 

***About ten minutes later***

Leo lead Sam out from the exit by the living room and down another hallway to the right. Splinter decided to let Leo come up with a punishment for the girl because he knew he would choose something reasonable that would test the girl's limits and be some form of actual training, rather than Raph who would just pick something that would put a serious physical strain on her body. There were two rooms in front of her. The right room was a little brighter than the one on the left. She headed towards the brighter room only for Leo to put his arm out to stop her.  
"Nope, that's what will eventually be the med wing. You're heading to that room" he said as he pointed towards the darker room on the left.  
As they entered the room, Sam observed a wide variety of different objects scattered along the walls. There were swivels chairs, tricycles, ping pong paddles, a carton of eggs, literally the most random things covering each section of wall space.  
Leo walked over and set up two large concrete blocks.  
"Since I don't know what your specific strengths and weaknesses are, I'm just going to have you complete my usual punishment when I'm sent to the hashi."  
"The fearless leader has a usual punishment?" she asked mockingly.  
"We all do" he said sourly. "Alright, start by getting into a split with one ankle on each block."  
Sam did as she was told, but she only straightened one leg.  
"I said to do a split."  
"This is a split."  
"No, it's only half. Both legs need to be straight."  
"…I can only do splits when I'm alone."  
Leo rolled his eyes. "Just do it."  
"…I can't…"  
"*sigh* and why not?"  
"Because I'm not flexible enough" she admitted in defeat.  
Leo's expression softened some as he realized that the girl wasn't joking.  
"You…you're being dead serious, right?"  
"Yup" Sam replied, a bit of annoyance in her voice. "After years of sports and dance I've just never been that flexible. I can't even touch my toes."  
"No way" Leo shook his head in disbelief.  
Sam gave him an agonized look as she bent over and failed at touching her toes. No matter how far she stretched, her arms came nowhere close to her feet.  
"Well, I guess I'll have to tell Mikey to add this to your list of weaknesses then. You still have to do a split though."  
"Dude come on!" Sam pouted. "I know you hate me and all but can't you pick anything else, literally anything else?" 

Leo's face went blank as he saw how much this truly bothered the girl in front of him. He still didn't really trust her, but that's also because he didn't really know her that well. This little bit of information was one of the few things he did know about her, but he knew that was also because he had been keeping his distance from her. He then remembered last week how she had tricked him and Raph into conversing with her because of how much he and his brothers had been avoiding her and that this demonstrated how much she was really trying to get on their good side and make amends with them. He then thought about what his father had told him early that morning about sensing a peaceful aura about the girl. Leo decided that maybe it was time to slowly start trusting the girl and not treating her like an outsider anymore. 

"Okay, there are some tricks that aide one's ability to be more flexible. It takes time and may even hurt at first, but if need be, that will be your punishment for the hashi. Deal?" he said with a small smile.  
Sam looked at the floor and shrugged. "Deal" she said with a sigh. 

For about an hour, Leo helped Sam in being able to get her legs to stay straight without it hurting too much. Once she could finally hold the position, Leo backed off and let her stay put. 

"See, was that so hard?"  
"I hate my life" Sam replied dryly.  
Leo chuckled. "Well my work is done, see you in two hours" he said as he started to walk off.  
"Hey you" Sam called out as Leo paused and looked over his shoulder, "thanks for helping me and not just straight up torturing me" she said with a small smile.  
Leo gave her a small nod and continued on his way.  
As he walked, he couldn't get the images of her keeping up with Raph so quickly out of his head. Once again, her performance didn't help her in his questioning of whether she could be a Foot clan member in disguise, but he did continue to see her be playful and fair throughout the entire experience. She never physically threatened Raph, and she never tried cheating either, and then after she lost she remained calm and even admitted defeat to Raph, even though it was obvious how pissed she was at herself for losing. 

Leo still wasn't exactly ready to become friends with the girl, but he did think that maybe it was time to start getting to know her a little more, but only for security reasons. If she was a Foot member, then it would be best to learn her weaknesses and things of that sort, and he needed to get to know her on a more personal level in order to do that. So yes, he would start talking to her, but only for the safety of his family. Well, that was the excuse that he continued to repeat over and over again in his head at least.


	15. Chapter 15

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

Chapter #13

***Thursday May 29****th****, 9:00p.m. At the Sachs Estate*  
**

Shredder walked into the meeting room. There was a table with swivel chairs all around it, and sitting in each one was one of Shredders students or allies. Shredder didn't show emotion, but there were a select few that he actually cared about, and all four of them were in this room at the moment. 

First was Eric Sachs who had been in hiding for a little while after he was broken out of jail. Next to him at the table was Karai, a young Asian woman who was always right by his side. She aided in training the Foot soldiers that were recruited in the U.S.

At the other side of the table was a bald Asian man who looked to be in his mid to late thirties named Tatsu. He had the same job and rank as Karai. When Shredder could not be in Japan to lead the Foot, then Tatsu took over for the main branch, and when Shredder couldn't be in New York, Karai took over as head master. Tatsu and Karai saw each other as brother and sister figures since they both basically had the same jobs, so there was never really a reason for them to fight or argue over who was the best since in certain senses they were basically the same person.

The final person in the room was a tall and buff white skinned man with a blonde ponytail named Hun. Just like how Shredder had raised and taught Sachs in Japan, Shredder had basically done the same with Hun once he first arrived in New York years ago when Hun was still a young teenager. Shredder taught him how to defend himself, and once he finished his training he went out and provided for his master in his own ways. While Sachs used brains, technology, and money to help his master in whatever he needed to accomplish, Hun used his strength and intimidating personality to round up his own gang, the Purple Dragons, to take care of more petty crimes. This way he could distract the public with his gang's crimes, and then the Foot could get away with even more devious activity. Both men did what they needed to do and used their personal strengths to work together in helping each other and in helping provide for their sensei. 

Overall, all four adults saw each other as family in a way and would do their best to protect one another, and all five saw each other as their own strange unique emotionless family. 

Shredder first walked over to Eric Sachs. This was the first time that he had seen his student since his arrest months ago.  
"Sensei," Sachs said as he bowed, "I can't thank you enough for sending your men to rescue me. I'll do whatever I can to show you how thankful I truly am."  
Shredder put his hand on the man's shoulder and nodded. "Welcome back my student, we will continue our work soon."  
He then walked over to Karai who also bowed toward her sensei. "We have good news sir."  
He put a hand on her shoulder and nodded to her, and then walked over to the next person, Tatsu.  
The man bowed towards Shredder. "Thank you sir for sending your men to help me and those from the main Japanese branch have successful travels from Japan to New York. We are all awaiting your orders."  
Shredder repeated his greeting. "Welcome my student, we will work together soon."  
Finally, Shredder walked over to Hun, who bowed to the Shredder as well. "Like Karai said, we have plans and news that we think will make you most happy sir."  
Shredder repeated his greeting for the final time and then walked over to the head of the table.  
"Alright, so what is this good news?" he asked. There was never any emotion displayed on his face or heard in his voice, but at the same time it was so easy to feel how tense any conversation with the man was.  
The four sitting at the table all looked at each other and smiled as Sachs stood up.  
"Please follow me Sensei, we'll explain as we walk."  
Everyone stood up and followed Sachs.  
Karai was the first to talk. "We searched for the scientist that we tricked into working for us before and we forced him to come back. Since he and the other's Hun and I forced to return have been here, they've been using his notes to create the mutagen that he had been working on before we found the turtles." She then nodded towards Hun.  
He nodded back and began to talk. "The scientist's then made huge doses. At that point, Tatsu and I rounded up our men and had them break into both the state zoo and a local pet shop, basically wherever we knew we could go to quickly snatch a bunch of different animals."  
The group then walked into a huge laboratory. All around the room were cages and containers of multiple different animals.  
Shredder nodded his head. This was the only way he really showed praise, but that was enough to make his students feel proud of themselves for their accomplishments.  
"So," Shredder began, "we are going to create a mutant army with the man-made mutagen?"  
"Exactly sir" Sachs said with a smile. He then snapped his fingers and two of the soldiers in the room dragged over a terrified Jordon Perry.  
Shredder glared at the man. "So, you thought you could try to run from the Foot Clan did you?" he said as he clenched his fists.  
"I, um, well the police made me. I mean, I didn't really have a choice-"  
"ENOUGH!" Tatsu shouted. "How dare you try to insult my master! Do you really think he would believe an excuse filled with such nonsense?!"  
"I'm…I'm sorry…" the man whimpered.  
"Can you mutate these animals?" Shredder asked the man who was lying on the floor.  
"I…I've created a mutagen that should be able to give them some extraordinary powers…"  
Shredder glared at the man. "If you can turn these animals into soldiers, then I will let you live. Is the mutagen ready?"  
The professor shivered in fear, as much as he hated giving such power to such a horrid person, he wasn't ready to die yet. He nodded his head at the man towering over him. He hadn't gotten a chance to test out the mutagen he had been working on, but he was extremely confident in his work, so he had a strong feeling that this first and only test run would be successful.  
Shredder nodded at Sachs, who returned the gesture.  
"ALRIGHT!" Sachs shouted, "Everyone in this room, get these animals set up. This is where the fun begins" he said with a wicked smile.

Within twenty minutes or so, all the animals were put into cages or large spaced containers that would be able to hold them once they had mutated.  
Within the different cages and containers was an Akita Inu male dog and his son who was still a puppy; a larger female tortoise and her two hatchlings, one a boy and the other a girl; a male and female adult terrapins and their hatchlings, two boys and two girls making four babies total; four male frogs of various colors; two female foxes of brownish-orange colors; a lioness; a male alligator; a male gecko of yellow skin with black spots and a female gecko of blue skin with red spots; a female arctic fox; a darker purple and blue colored female salamander; and a female kitten that had some ice cream stuck to its fur.

Professor Jordon Perry was disheartened as he prepared to inject each animal with the mutagen he had made. If he had known what all his research and hard work would lead to, then he never would have agreed to come and work for the Sachs Estate years ago. But sadly it was too late, and as he used his hand to cover his mouth to prevent himself from letting out any sobs, the mutagen had slowly started entering the bodies of each of the animals. Within a couple of minutes each and every animal began writhing around on the ground, not being able to control their bodies. Then, they each began to grow, and grow, and grow until they were either as tall as or even taller than a normal human being. 

The professor looked over at the Shredder, and what he saw made him want to run for the hills. For the first time that night, Shredder was grinning from ear to ear with the most devilish smile the professor had ever seen. It was the smile of a mad man, of a psychopath, of someone who was drunk with power.

"_Great, and this is the person who determines when I get to die. Not that it matters, I'm already living in hell."_

**Themes for what's going on inside Sam's head:  
-AKMU: Melted  
-Jung Yong Hwa: One Fine Day (not in a romantic sense though)**

***Thursday May 29****th****, earlier that night around 8:15p.m. At the Lair***

Donnie heard a beeping go off and ran over to his collage of computer screens.  
"Guys, we have trouble!"  
Leo and Mikey walked over to where Donnie was and waited for details.  
"It looks like there's been a security breech at two places. An alarm was set at a local pet store up the street earlier, and there was another one at the zoo. If you give me a second…aha!" Donnie said as he pulled up a few videos. "These security cameras are showing that there's Foot and Purple Dragon activity at both locations."  
"Alright," Leo began, "let's gear up and see if we can stop whatever it is that they're doing. One of you go get Raph-"  
"I'm already here."  
Leo turned around to see Raph slowly walk down to where they were all standing by Donnie's computers.  
"Hey, you okay?"  
"Pshh, of course. A little cold isn't going to bother me" he said as he lightly swayed side to side. "Stop moving around so much!"  
"Um, Raph, I haven't moved since you entered the room."  
"Oh…really?"  
"Yup."  
"Shit."  
Leo gave his brother a small smile. "As much as you want to go with us, it's probably best you sit this one out tonight. You'll beat yourself up a lot more if you get caught because of something silly like a cold."  
Raph gave a loud sigh, hating that his brother was right. "Fine, I'll just chill here. Don't have too much fun kicking butt without me."  
Leo nodded towards his brother and then turned to leave. Donnie was using the devices on his left arm to figure out which pathways would lead them to their destinations the quickest. To Leo's surprise, Mikey had his phone out as well.  
"Andddd what are you doing?" he asked Mikey, tilting his head to the side.  
Mikey looked up in surprise, and then with a smile. "Just texting Sam that we're heading out and that we'll be back eventually so not to worry when she gets here and its super quiet."  
"Okay all set!" Donnie cut in.  
The two brothers then stared at Mikey, waiting for him to finish his text message.  
"Okay! I've slid into her DM's, and now I'm ready to go!"  
"Never say that again, please." Donnie pleaded.  
"Awww, why not? That's become my new phrase! It's the newest trend!"  
"Because you over use and incorrectly and awkwardly use modern phrases. So stop now before you ruin it for everyone."  
"Tch, don't hate the player hate the game!" he shouted as all three brothers ran off down the alley ways of the sewers. 

While his brothers had been talking, Raph had walked over towards the four circular openings that lead into the dojo. He climbed up to the top left opening where the hammocks were and decided he would rest there. It was rare that he could lay and sway in the hammocks without there being tons of noise from his brothers, so he decided to take advantage of this opportunity. About ten to fifteen minutes later he heard someone enter the room.  
"_Huh, they're back early. They just left, what, ten minutes ago? Maybe they forget something."  
_

Raph leaned over a little bit and was shocked that he didn't see his brothers. Instead, he watched as Sam walked in from the entrance along the wall at the end of the kitchen. From where she was standing, there was no way she could see Raph, so he took advantage of this and spied on her. She walked over to the bottom right entrance to the dojo and kneeled down facing the left side of the wall. Raph continued to secretly stare at her, wondering what she was thinking as she just blankly stared at the weapons wall. He watched as she took a cloth and a bottle with some type of liquid out of her back pack. He then clenched his fists together when Sam picked up the lone sai she had been questioning him about from days ago and began to dust and polish it.  
"_Are you kidding me?! I told her not to touch my stuff, and what does she do, SHE TOUCHES MY STUFF!"  
_Raph was just about to jump down from the upper level and begin yelling at her, but he stopped when he saw her put her hand back into her bag. His jaw dropped when he saw that in Sam's hand was an exact replica of the small sai that was hanging on their wall. He wanted to feel rage and anger towards her, but more than anything he was just curious. When he found the first sai in a dumpster one night about four years ago, he constantly looked for its partner. At the time he needed a new pair of sais that would fit his growing hands, and it had really upset him that he couldn't find the match, so he always kept it along the weapons wall in case he ever found the second of the two. He did use it every so often to practice certain attacks, but once he finally found a new pair where both blades were present then he just continued to use the newer pair, but he still always kept this one. All four brothers had saved all the weapons that they had fought and trained with over the years. It was their equivalent to when kids mark how tall they've grown on the side of a wall or door frame in their house, at least that's what he had seen kids do on t.v. His thoughts were disrupted when he heard some light sobbing. He peeked back over at the girl and noticed that she had been crying. She wasn't loud or crying her eyes out, but she did have some tears running down her cheeks. Raph listened carefully as the girl began to talk to herself. 

"*sigh* I looked EVERYWHERE for you. Like literally everywhere, and in some places I'm not proud of either" she shuddered, "and you've been hiding down here all this time."  
"_Yeah, and I never would have expected someone like you to be hiding the other half all these years either" _Raph thought to himself.  
Tears continued to run down Sam's face as she softly spoke to herself.  
"Well, I finally got a chance to reunite you two. Heh, it really threw me off when I saw you down here the other day. You brought back a lot of memories that I was finally starting to hide away. Well, you know what I mean, not hide away, but…I'm able to live life again, you know? I just wish your new owner didn't have to be such an ass about it."  
Raph rolled his eyes.  
"But, even if you were a bit dusty, you still seem to have a nice blade to you, and you can still see the initials, so overall it seems he did a good job at taking care of you" she said with a smile, her tears finally starting to dry up and fade away. "In a weird way, I'm glad the Hulk found you. I never knew I would find this place, but because you were taken by he who must not be named, I finally got to figure out where you've been hiding all these years." 

Raph wondered what she was talking about. Initials? He thought the C.A.P. on the handle had been a brand name. He tried to think of the girl's last name and after a few seconds he remembered her mentioning it when they first met. Allan Park, that's what the A and P must have stood for, but what did the C represent? The next thing he knew, Sam was heading into the dojo with both of the sais. He quickly laid down as flat as he could, hoping she wouldn't see him up where he was. 

"Alright bro, let's see if I can remember all that you taught me."  
Sam began quickly slicing the sais across the open space in front of her. She moved so swiftly that you could hear the swishing sounds of the blades as she moved. Again, Raph wanted to yell and scream at the girl, but he was so lost in his thoughts, just as she was lost in hers. He was lucky that she was so emotionally wrapped up in what she was doing, or else she easily would have spotted him, but because of her personal distraction, Raph was able to sit up and watch her in plain sight. As he watched her in amazement, he continued to wonder what all her comments meant. How did these sais ever end up in her possession? When did she learn how to use them? Why had she thrown one in a dumpster? What had happened four years ago? And why did she just say 'bro' to the weapons?

Sam then swung the sais around and then threw them at a diagonal position down by her sides, only to have them go flying behind her.  
Raph clapped his hand to his head. _"What the heck is she thinking? Treat them with a little more respect, jeez!"  
_He then jumped where he was sitting a bit when he heard a loud slap sound. Sam had clapped both of her hands against her face in horror.  
"Oh crap! I thought I was acting like him and was trying to be cool, but I don't have holsters!"  
She then ran over to where the weapons had been thrown and she inspected them carefully.  
"Oh thank cheesus, they're both okay. Phew, so neither of you guys have to be mad at me since they're both still in good shape.  
"_Guys? I'm assuming I'm one of them, but who else would be upset about my sais? Does she think Mikey would get upset? Or maybe Leo since he controls whether she gets to come down here or not?"  
_

Both their thoughts were interrupted as they heard voices getting louder and louder as they neared the entrance over by the living room. Raph recognized his brother's voices, and before he could even wonder if Sam had heard them or not, his thoughts had been answered when he saw her run over to the weapons wall and carefully put one of the sais back and the other in her back pack. She then ran over to the fridge, opened the door, and shoved her head inside. 

As the brothers walked in, Mikey instantly recognized his friend standing across the room. "Sam! Watcha doin?"  
She turned around and smiled. "Looking for food. Soccer practice makes you hungry, but you guys are low on snacks."  
"Oh that's okay cause I….don't have snacks in my room, hehe" he said nervously. He then noticed that Leo wasn't paying attention since he was focused on contacting April.  
"Hey April, I have a favor to ask of you when you get a momen-"  
"HEY ANGEL CAKES! How have you been?! What are you up to?! Did you miss me?!" Mikey shouted over his brother's shoulder. As Leo walked out in the alley ways of the sewers to try to talk to April on the phone with peace and quiet, Mikey continued to follow him and bombard April with questions and comments.  
Donnie laughed as he rolled his eyes and headed for his lab. He noticed some movement to his right in his peripheral vision, and when he looked over he smiled and waved.  
"Hey Raph, hope you're feeling better" he said with a smile, assuming that his brother had been relaxing in the hammocks while the rest of them were out. 

While Donnie was smiling as he walked into his lab, Sam was standing still, frozen with fear. She heard a *thud* come from behind her and she knew that the hot headed turtle was walking towards her. She took a deep breath and slowly turned to face him. All she saw was his hands on his hips and without thinking she just began blurting out whatever came to mind. 

"Okay I know you hate me and all but they both were originally mine, well sort of, but they belonged to my family so I had the right to check them out and you wouldn't answer any of my questions the other day and just I needed this okay? So hate me all you want but it's not fair that you wouldn't even let me clean them and-"  
Just as she felt tears welling up in her eyes again, she was cut off when Raph used his hand to cover her mouth. She then for the first time realized that Raph had a calm expression with some sorrow resting in his eyes. He slowly removed his hand from her face. 

"So, you gonna explain what I just witnessed for the past half hour?"  
Sam just stood there. She didn't want to go into full detail about what had just happened, and just thinking about it made her come close to crying again, and realizing that Raph had seen her cry earlier made her even more upset. She hadn't even told Mikey much about her past yet, and if she needed to cry then she would rather it be in front of someone who would comfort her rather than hurt her. That's when she realized…Raph wasn't insulting her. He hadn't yelled, he hadn't gotten violent, he was actually standing there ready to listen to her. 

"Why…aren't you yelling at me?"  
Raph looked over to the side as his face darkened a bit.  
"I've never seen a girl cry in person…"  
"Oh, I get it. You're treating me like the damsel in distress" she said in a nasty tone. This was one of the reasons she didn't want to tell any of them about her past, because she knew they would treat her differently.  
"Wait, what?" Raph asked in confusion.  
"You're going soft on me because you know I'm broken. So I'm not Sam anymore to you, I'm the broken girl who makes you feel guilty for being yourself. I knew this would happen-"  
"Stop" he said, cutting her off. "I'm not treating you like you're broken, I'm attempting…trying to be nice and understand…and stuff."  
She tilted her head at him.  
"Look" he began, "I've been treating you like shit because I thought you were just a nosy brat who couldn't keep her hands to herself and mind her own business. But obviously there's reasons as to why you're the way you are."  
"The way I am?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.  
"You know, super over confident and cocky when it comes to brains and strength. Someone your age and size shouldn't be able to do the things that you do, but you still do it. And…I'll admit I never really let you explain why, I just insult you every time…"  
"…you're scaring me…"  
Raph rolled his eyes. "Are you going to explain yourself or not?"  
"Um…" she said as her eyes wandered to the floor, "please don't make me tell you. It's a long story that I've been hiding away for a while now."  
Raph gave her a small smile as he put his hands on his hips.  
"How bout this, you at least tell me who's initials these are, and then I'll refrain from kicking your butt."  
She looked up at him and gave him a small smile. "C.A.P. stands for Chuck Allan Park. These belonged to my younger brother years ago."  
Her eyes glistened as she remembered fighting alongside her younger brother of two years. Raph noticed this and tried to carefully ask more questions about the subject.  
"Did he take those self-defense classes with you to?"  
Sam snapped back to reality, but she continued to smile as she answered his questions.  
"Yeah, we were the babies of the family, so our older siblings signed us up for a variety of different classes. Man the two of us kicked major butt together! I mean he was a million times better than me when it came to using sais. I'll honestly admit I was always jealous that I couldn't reach his level of expertise when it came to his weapon" she said as she jokingly shook her head.  
"Do you mind telling me how he lost it? How does he fight with one sai?" Raph asked.  
Sam took a breath, paused for a moment, and decided she was ready to reveal SOME information to the turtle in front of her.  
"We were fighting some bad guys and it got kicked away by the enemy. I tried looking everywhere for it, but I could never find it. I guess you took it that fast" she said as she playfully glared at Raph.  
He returned the gesture. "Well, now you can return it to him, and maybe if Leo is nice enough, he can come show me what he's got." Raph was actually a bit excited to meet another ninja who used the same weapon as him, but his excitement faded as he saw Sam's face slowly return to its soft and sullen form.  
"Sadly that will never happen. My brother, he's…far away right now…"  
Raph tilted his head in confusion.  
"Okay, my entire family has been split up for a while now. That's why it's always just me and my older brother Jay. Everyone else has traveled somewhere else throughout the country. That's why I'm home alone so much."  
"Do they ever visit, or even call or something?" Raph was shocked at how much concern he revealed in his tone.  
Of course Sam caught on to this and rolled with it, not knowing when the hot headed turtle might ever talk to her this way ever again. "Well, we sort of meet up all together about once a year now. But that's usually it" she said as she shrugged her shoulders. 

Raph wasn't sure how to reply. He knew he would be devastated if his brothers just disappeared and saw him only once a year. Family was all he had, so he couldn't imagine how Sam felt when her huge family was scattered and so broken apart. He wished that he had learned this earlier, but then he realized that he would have done exactly what Sam didn't want and he would have treated her as the broken girl and not as Sam Allan Park. He then began to smile again, realizing that he could still treat her as herself. 

"If you want, you can take both sais home with you, or you can leave them here for safe keeping. Your call. There's no way Mikey can train you with them, but I can always give you some pointers if you'd like."  
Sam didn't realize how much her jaw dropped when she looked back up at Raph.  
"Did you just offer to help train me?"  
"Well, let's put it this way. I don't want you to get your butt kicked because you don't know how to use the weapon you're armed with. You know, since I DON'T hate you and all."  
Sam playfully squinted her eyes and glared at him. "What are you saying about my technique?"  
"To put it bluntly, you're a mess. You had some good moves, but overall your technique is sloppy."  
Sam put her hands up in defense. "As much as I would love to disagree with you, I know you're right. I haven't fought with those for a couple of years now, so I could use a few refresher courses, you know, from someone who doesn't hate me" she said as she turned toward Raph, aiming the comment directly at him. 

Just then, Mikey walked back into the room, his smiling face instantly turning into one of concern as he saw Raph standing right next to Sam.  
"What's going on?"  
Sam smiled at her best friend. "You're leading me to the snacks that you don't have hidden in your room."  
"Right! Don't follow me" he winked at her as he dashed back towards his room. 

As Mikey headed towards his room, Sam looked over at Raph.  
"I'm gonna take a rain check on that refresher course, but let's stay in touch Dauntless" she said with a smile as she walked away. 

Once she was gone, Raph headed back up towards the hammocks. As he laid down and got comfy, he continued to wonder about her past. What had happened that her family was now scattered all over the country? He hoped that maybe now that he had opened up to her a bit, maybe she would slowly do the same, for safety reasons of course since it was important to know about the person who had appeared in not the most appealing of ways into their lives. As Raph thought back to the conversations he had recently had with the girl, he didn't realize that he now had a small smile on his face as he drifted off to sleep.

***Friday May 30****th**** around 3:00p.m.***

Once school had gotten out, Sam went straight home to gather whatever she thought she would need when hanging out with Mikey and then headed straight for the sewers. The two talked for a while about their favorite games and shows and then not long after they decided to ride around the sewers on their skate boards. As the two rode around, Sam noticed a lot of empty spaces throughout the underground passage ways. 

"Hey, how come you guys don't take advantage of all these huge open spaces?" Sam asked as the two skated by another large open space about the size of two small houses.  
"Honestly, we just haven't taken the time to really look around yet. After Shredder and his guys attacked us at our old home, we instantly started looking for a new home farther away from where our old one was. We stumbled upon this place, thought that it was large enough for anything we might need, and within a few days we were all set here. We haven't really looked around anywhere else in the nearby sewer passage ways."  
"Well, maybe you and I could start looking around, if you want to. If we find any spaces we like then we can decorate them the way we want to" Sam said with a smile.  
Mikey gave her a quizzical look. "And how exactly would we decorate them? What would we use these rooms for?"  
"Go Karts" Sam stated bluntly.  
Mikey laughed. "Where the heck are we going to get go karts?"  
"You guys realize what's above this place, right? I mean you have to know what's above the surface of where your new home is."  
"…Uh, well, I know Donnie knows…and Leo knows…and everyone but me cared to find out…hehe."  
Sam stared at him with wide eyes. "Seriously? Okay follow me."  
"Where are we going?"  
"You need to see what's above where you guys live, you're going to freak out when you see what's been above you guys this entire time!" 

Sam led her friend to a manhole cover that would take them straight up to the location that was right above the turtle's home. When she lifted the manhole cover, Mikey's jaw dropped.  
"We've been living under an abandoned amusement park this whole time?!"  
"Heh, told you that you'd freak out" Sam replied, her hands on her hips. "And there's a bunch of go karts right over there" she said as she pointed to a further away spot.  
Mikey ran as soon as he saw his friends hand go up. He inspected each of the go karts and then gave his friend a huge smile…and then began to frown.  
"These are awesome…but where would we put them. We can't use them up here, we would easily be heard if we got them running."  
Sam replied with a cheeky grin. "Oh I know just the place. Here we'll leave the karts up here for now, I have another surprise. Follow me!" she shouted as she turned and ran goofily back towards the manhole cover.  
Mikey shook his head and smiled, wondering what else she was hiding near HIS home.  
He followed her until they were…back by the lair?  
"Um, Sam. You know where we are right?"  
She turned around with wide eyes.  
"Heck. Yeah!"  
"….so you know that's the Hashi and the med wing behind us, right? As in we're right by the lair."  
"Yeah, but we're not heading towards the lair, we're heading here" she said as she pointed to the wall in front of her.  
"…we're going to walk through a wall?"  
"See, right now this looks like a wall, but what you guys didn't realize was that this section of the wall was hollow. Why you might ask? Because it wasn't meant to just be part of the wall, but rather…," she then pushed against the wall and a bunch of bricks came crashing down, falling into an open space within the wall, "…to be an opening."  
Mikey stared at the open space. How had there been an entryway right by their home that they hadn't even discovered yet? He took a step inside and slowly spun around as he observed the large open space. It seemed to be about half the size of their new lair.  
"Sam…how did you find out about this?" he said as he looked back at her with wide eyes.  
"The other day when I was sent to the Hashi, my legs felt like Jell-O afterwards and I needed the wall for support. As soon as I made my way out of the room, I quickly dived over to lean on this section of the wall, only to have it give out on me. I noticed there were some cracks in the wall, and I tried to push on it a little more. After a few minutes, this section of the wall caved in, and now boom! Here we are!" she said as she threw her arms up in excitement. "And this isn't the end either, come here!" she said as she started jogging over towards the left side of that wall. At the end of that wall was yet another opening. This lead to another room that was about the same size as the first, but Sam continued jogging on. There was once again another entry way, and this lead to the biggest room of the three. 

Mikey couldn't believe his eyes. "This is what you were talking about, this is the space you want to turn into a go kart track?"  
He turned to her and saw her running her fingers across each other in excitement.  
"Ohhhh I have plans for all three of these rooms" she paused. "If...you're okay with them that is" she said with a nervous smile.  
He smiled back and slowly swung his arm out in front of him like a servant. "Do share m'lady."  
She chuckled. "The first one could be a sports room, the second could be a skate room, and then this would be for the go karts. Thoughts, suggestions?"  
Mikey shook his head. "That literally sounds amazing. We already have game rooms, t.v.'s, workout spaces, so those ideas all sound amazing for these large spaces…you purposefully wanted to skate around today just so you could show me all this, didn't you?"  
"I don't know what you're talking about" Sam replied bashfully as she turned away, trying not to make it to obvious how much she had been wanting to show Mikey what she had discovered.  
He laughed as he put his arm around her.  
"Why don't we head back to the lair and start making plans on how to decorate our new space?"  
"Sounds good to me, I just need to go to Donnie's lab and get some blue print sheets."  
Mikey paused. "Donnie allowed you to go into his lab?"  
"Yeah, he told me a little while ago that I could go in, I just have to let him know what I'm taking before I touch anything."  
"Really?"  
"Do I need to say yes in another language?" she chuckled.  
"No, just curious. Now onward to the room of things I don't understand to get some blue paper!" 

Mikey would never admit it to anyone, but he was thrilled to hear that Donnie was finally giving his new friend a chance to be herself and get to know her rather than just push her away. He was proud of his older brother, and hoped that maybe he would become friends with Sam as well.

***Much later that same day***

Donnie was sitting at the computers right outside where his lab was.  
"Foxes, a lion, an alligator…but then also household pets like a cat and a dog? Shredder, what are you up to?"  
Donnie was reading online articles about the robbery that had just happened the night before, trying to see if there was anything that would give away whatever plan Shredder was scheming. He couldn't figure out why he would steal both vicious predators from the zoo while also stealing adorable animals from a pet store. 

Just then, he saw something make a jolting movement in his lab and then heard heavy breathing. He looked over to see Sam breathing heavily, sweat running down the side of her lightly red face. Earlier Sam and Mikey were working on blue prints for who knows what, but after a while Mikey needed to move around some, so he kindly excused himself to go workout some with Raph, and by the time he had returned he discovered that Sam was fast asleep. With Donnie's permission of course, Mikey moved Sam over to the small bed Donnie had in his laboratory and left her to sleep there. She had been sleeping peacefully earlier, but now her eyes were filled with terror from whatever had lead to her abrupt awakening.

Donnie quickly got up and rushed over to the girl who seemed to be having a hard time breathing.  
"Sam?" he said, snapping his fingers in front of her face, though this did nothing to change her condition.  
He then placed both his hands on the sides of her cheeks. "Sam? You okay?"  
Finally Sam's breathing calmed down some as she stared in Donatello's eyes.  
"What happened?" she asked.  
"Seriously? You're the one who looks like they just saw a ghost."  
She shrugged. "I guess you could say that."  
He frowned at her. "Is everything alright?"  
He brought his hands back to his sides after realizing that they had still been holding her face.  
"I'm good, everything is good. I just have night terrors every so often. Heh, I thought I'd be able to hide that a little longer, but of course I have one the first time I fall asleep here."  
"What was it about?"  
Sam sat quietly for a few seconds, not sure how to answer the question.  
"Just a typical dream where I'm falling and I wake up as soon as I'm about to hit the ground" she said with a playful smile.  
Donnie accepted her answer, but he had a feeling she was lying. He'd had dreams like that before and he didn't wake up with terror in his eyes like Sam just had.  
"How long have you been having night terrors?"  
"Ummmm, since I was about eight? I want to say that's about right."  
"Do you have any idea as to what's been causing them?"  
"Sorry Dr. Phil but I never really thought much about them. Usually when life got cheerier they began to go away, but even on my best days I've still had them. Sadly they just never go away."  
Donnie could sense the pain in her voice as she spoke about her nightmares. He wished there was something he could do, but without her telling him the full truth, there was no way he could help his friend.  
"_Friend?" _he thought,_ "when did I start seeing her as a friend?"  
_As he looked away, feeling a bit embarrassed and awkward because of the thought that just went through his head, he didn't notice that Sam was looking all over the room.  
"Where did Mikey go? He isn't back yet?"  
Donnie chuckled. "Mikey went to bed hours ago. He didn't want to wake you, so he asked if he could let you sleep here."  
"Oh, heh, sorry about that. I can leave if you want me to."  
Donnie smiled as he shook his head. "Nah, I'm actually about to head to bed myself, so you can continue to sleep here if you'd like. You definitely have to spend the night here since its too late for you to head home alone, and this bed it way more comfortable than the couch."  
Donnie was a bit shocked at seeing the huge smile that spread across the girl's face.  
"Thanks Don, I owe you one. Hey throw me that stack of post it notes."  
He stood up and reached for the pack and tossed them to her. "What are you writing down?"  
"How I'm going to pay you back."  
"You don't have to do that, it's really no big-"  
"Well the way I'm going to pay you back is not big deal either" she said as she smiled and folded the note so that it would fit into her jacket pocket.  
Donnie smiled and put a hand on her shoulder as he turned to leave the lab. "Night Sam."  
"Night Erudite" she said playfully as she turned over onto the bed. 

Donnie walked back to his room around the corner from where the lab was. Maybe having this girl around wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. 


	16. Chapter 16

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

**Also, it recently dawned on me that I know who I picture when I think of each character that I write about, but I haven't really given any descriptions as to who looks how. I mainly do this because I want the reader to have the freedom to imagine how they want each character to look, since when I read stories sometimes having too much detail irks me, which I know probably makes no sense but hey that's me. I also don't add a whole lot detail as to how each character looks because…well I really suck at it. Seriously, I have a horrible time describing people's physical features in real life. So, if anyone is ever curious as to who I imagine when I'm writing about certain characters, feel free to ask and I will tell. **

**Anyway, thank you for continuing to read my story, ENJOY!**

Chapter #14

***Saturday May 31****st****, about 2:00p.m. Channel 6 news station***

April was talking to Irma, one of the receptionists at the Channel 6 news building. The two friends were having lunch in April's office when they heard a knock on the door. To April's surprise, two young teenagers were standing in the doorway to her office, and one of them she had seen before.  
"Oh, Kris. Is your game over already? We still have some time before I have to take you to your appointment" Irma said to her son.  
"Yeah. Both teams were all ready to go, so we got to start early since the game before ours had been canecled. One of the teams was from out of state and they had some complications in finding the field. So here we are!"  
Behind Kris was a silent but smiling Sam, who felt a bit awkward at the moment. She knew where Irma worked, and she also knew that April was a new reporter for Channel 6, but she wasn't really prepared to meet the woman just yet, but Irma's presence helped lessen the awkwardness that Sam felt in this situation.  
"Oh Sam! It's been way to long since the last time I saw you!" Irma said as she stood up and quickly walked over to the young girl, throwing her arms around her and giving her a big hug.  
Sam laughed as she hugged the woman back. "Hey future family, long time no see."  
Irma took a step back, playfully glaring at the girl. "And where have you been all this time? Even if you're not my family yet, I still worry about you very much." Irma's expression then softened some. "Have things slowly started to go back to the way they were before, in anyway?"  
Sam looked at the woman and gave her a sincere smile. "Yes, things have gotten much better. They're still really tough, but I'm slowly crawling out of the cave I've been hiding in. Things will never be the same, but I can honestly say that they have been much better lately."  
"Umm, should I go?" April asked, feeling a bit odd just standing there as the two seemed to be having a personal moment.  
"Oh April! I'm so sorry, let me introduce you two, since you'll probably see each other again at the wedding anyway. Remember when I told you about Brenda's boyfriend, Jay, the man everyone KNOWS that she will be marrying one day? Well, this is his younger sister, Sam."  
Sam walked over to April and extended her hand out. "Hello ma'am, my name is Samantha Allan Park, it's nice to meet you" Sam said sincerely.  
April smiled at the girl and shook her hand. "Hello, my name is April O'neil, it's nice to meet some of the future family that Irma has told me so much about."  
Sam raised an eyebrow at Irma. "You talk about us?"  
"Just a little bit, I mean jeez Jay and Brenda spend so much time together. It's impossible for me not to talk about all of you, haha."  
Sam chuckled. "Hey Irma, what's the name of those juice box looking drinks that you buy every so often?"  
"Ummm, well it depends, since there's a lot of different brands with a lot of different flavors."  
"Can you text me a list later of stores that have a variety of these different brands and flavors?"  
"Yeah sure, no problem!"  
"Hey mom, we better go soon or I'm going to be late to my doctor's appointment" Kris chimed in.  
"That's right, Sam are you leaving with us? I'd rather you not go walking around on your own even if it is still sunny outside."  
"Actually I can stay with her" April cut in.  
Both Irma and Kris gave her an odd look.  
"Are you sure April? We do still have some time before we have to-"  
"Irma, its fine! You're always helping me out in many different ways. I can easily give the girl a ride home. That is, if Sam's okay with it" she said as she turned towards the teenager with a questioning look.  
Sam pursed her lips and nodded. "Sure, why not, how often do you get escorted by a celebrity?"  
Kris chuckled. "That's definitely a Sam response."  
"Alright, well if either of you need anything then call me! No texting if it's an emergency, I expect calls!" Irma exclaimed as she pointed at both women in front of her.  
"I hear you loud and clear Irma. Bye Kris, nice seeing you again" April said as she waved to him.  
He replied with a sincere smile and returned the wave. "You to Ms. O'Neil. Have a good day."  
Irma and Kris left, leaving Sam and April in the room together. Sam didn't want there to be any awkward tension between the two, well she actually wasn't sure if there was any. She knew that she had been a bit jealous of April when she first met her, but now knowing her relationship to the turtles made her feel guilty of these original feelings. So, did April feel any weird or awkward feelings towards her? Is that why she had offered to take her home?  
"So, Ms. O'Neil, what's the motive behind you offering to take me home?" Sam asked as she leaned up against the wall.  
April smiled at the girl as she began packing up her belongings. "Nothing serious, I just wanted to get to know the 'thief' that is now supposedly allowed back into the lair" she said as she started walking towards the door.  
"Where are we going to talk about this exactly?" Sam asked, concerned about talking about the turtles in an open location where eavesdropping ears could listen in, including Foot members in disguise.  
"Don't worry, we'll go somewhere private. I know it's dangerous to talk about them in public" she said as she gave a face that said 'Seriously? I know better than that, have some faith in me.'  
Sam followed April out of the building and into the Channel 6 news van. The two got settled in the back.  
"So, we're just going to sit here?"  
"Of course not, Vern's going to drive us. He's already met the turtles so it's safe for us to talk about them in front of him."  
"Yup, you can trust me" a voice said from the front of the van. A head then turned around and smiled at the two of them.  
Sam's eyebrows went up. "You met the turtles? How?"  
"Somehow I got wrapped up in helping them fight off Shredder, you know, hero stuff, the usual."  
Sam saw April roll her eyes, making her laugh softly. She extended a hand to Vern in the front seat.  
"My name is Samantha Allan Park, nice to meet you. I'm the newest member of the turtle's band of misfits."  
Vern shook her hand and the two went back to their seats.  
"So, what exactly did you want to talk to me about?" Sam asked.  
"Well," April began, "I just wanted to know who you were, what you want out of being their friend, that sort of thing. I don't want to seem vicious or threatening towards you in any way, I'm just…looking out for them."  
Sam smiled. "I understand, you're just looking out for them like an older sister would, I mean you are the great hogosha" she teased," and I can relate to that, the sister part that is. Well, the first time I came across the lair, it honestly was just by chance. I wasn't specifically searching for it, it just happened to be the mysterious thing that was there. I stole the flash drive from Donnie's lab because I wanted to learn more about what I had found, but within a week they hunted me down and I got my answer as to what was hiding down in the sewers. I wanted to get to know them better since, well they're incredible! Both in the sense of them scientifically being one of the most amazing things I've ever seen, but personality wise they're all so unique as well. Mikey came to visit me the following night that I met the four brothers, and he's become my best friend ever since. I just…feel happy and comfortable with him, with all of them…oh god please don't tell ANY of them that I said that or they'll be weird about it I just know it!" Sam said as she cringed a bit.  
April laughed at the girl's reaction to her own words. "Don't worry, anything said in this van will stay in this van. But your comments answered some thoughts I've had in my head for a while."  
Sam gave the woman an inscrutable look. "What thoughts would those be?"  
"Well, let's just say that Irma has talked A LOT about her daughter and future son in law, which means I've also heard a lot about his past, which means I know a lot about what's happened to you as well."  
Sam just sat there silently with a bleak expression on her face. She wasn't sure exactly how to respond for a few reasons. Her main fear was that she may tell or might already have told the turtles about her harsh past, and she wasn't ready to talk to any of them about that yet. Sam was also now trying to stay calm and collected since she was now being forced into a situation where she had to talk about her past, something that she hated very much. Little to no notice beforehand to allow her to calm herself ahead of time made talking about this very difficult, and she hated showing this weakness to people. As she sat there silently, April began to talk again.  
"If you're wondering if I told the guys, then you have nothing to worry about."  
Sam's head shot up as she heard this. 

April gave her a small smile. "If I may be brutally honest, the night I first met you and you told me your name, I knew it had sounded familiar. Once it finally clicked in how and why I knew you even though I had never met you before, it made some sense to me as to why you would be creeping around the sewers looking for 'adventure' as Leo put it, hehe. That's also why I hung back in advising them to look further into any background information on you. I actually convinced Leo and Donnie to drop those thoughts and convinced them that I would take care of it, and I sort of white lied and said that I was still in the process of looking up information when really I wasn't looking into your background at all. I wanted to confront you before ever telling them anything personal about you. I wanted to see if your intentions in seeing them were good or not, and if they seemed so, then I vowed that I would continue to keep your secret. If you seemed suspicious or anything then honestly yes I was planning on telling them. But I know that you've lost a lot, and based on what you just told me a minute ago, the reason you seem to like hanging out with the guys so much is because they remind you of what you lost years ago." 

Sam paused to collect her thoughts. "Honestly, it sounds like you've put a lot more thought into why I feel so comfortable around all of them than I have. But you're right, each of them has qualities that are so similar to all of my siblings. You might as well label Leo as Jay junior" she said with a laugh. "But I swear on my life that I just want to be friends and hangout with all of them. Ever since…the incident, I've been alone a lot more than ever before, and within the past few years I've really grown to look for something adventurous, something that will give me a huge adrenaline rush, and Mikey alone has helped with that. I more so recently just got the other three to really start talking to me, but that's another first for me as well. Kids at school only talk to me when they need to or when no one else is around, and I've grown to not care about that, but…for whatever reason I don't want it to be that way with these guys. Even if they're just starting to or still barely even care for my company, I really do want to get to know them. Thinking back on it, what you said about wanting to hang out with them because of their similarities to my siblings makes a lot of sense."

April smiled and put a hand on the girls shoulder. "Don't worry, they're all very protective of one another, and as they get to know you bit by bit, they'll open up to you. But that means you also have to slowly open up to them as well. That doesn't mean telling them every detail of your past at one time, but slowly talking more about your siblings, things like that. Prove to them that you really do want to become their friend." April then turned her head towards the front of the van. "Hey Vern, can you drop me off at the usual place?"  
"Yup, sure thing April. Tell the guys I said hi when you see them." He then started the van and merged in with the traffic.  
Sam smiled at the woman in front of her. "Thanks for this April, it really means a lot that the great hogosha approves of me seeing her friends."  
April rolled her eyes and smiled. "Well, thank you for talking to me with seriousness and honesty. And hey, if you ever need anything," she said as she stuck her hand out and waited until Sam put her phone into her hand, "let me know okay?"  
Sam nodded her head as she looked at the new name and number in her contacts list. "And I can't thank you enough for keeping my past a secret."  
"Don't worry about it, you're not the only one that's lost someone." 

Vern parked the van and let the ladies out, covering for them as they made their way into the sewers. As Sam and April exited the van, they continued to talk the entire time they walked to the lair. April shared about losing her father at such a young age and how that affected her, and for the first time ever, Sam was able to share how she felt about losing her own family members, in a comforting setting that is. This wasn't therapy, this was a real person who wanted to talk to her and get to know her, and that meant everything to Sam, especially since she hadn't had someone that she could view as a sister figure in a long while. Sam had sadly cast Irma and Brenda out some time ago, but slowly she was letting them back in bit by bit, and this conversation with April made her realize that as much as she loved being a tomboy and hanging out with guys, she truly did miss talking to other women. Sam was happy that she had the chance to talk to April like this and she hoped that it wouldn't be the last.

***Saturday May 31****st****, the lair, late at night***

Raph had been watching t.v. in his room and had headed towards the kitchen for a late night snack. As he entered the main living area, he noticed someone laying in one of the hammocks in the top left opening that lead into the dojo. He was prepared to prank whichever brother had fallen asleep there, but as he got closer he realized that it was Sam who was laying there. He knew she must be thinking about something personal and emotional again, or else she would have cracked some type of joke at him once he had entered the room. She always knew when someone had entered the room when she was training with Mikey, even when she couldn't see them. She had proved that she had incredible sensory skills, but whenever her emotions got the best of her, those skills went flying out the window. Raph climbed up to where the hammocks were and laid in one, leaving some space between where he and Sam were lying. He could tell by her glassy eyes that she must have let a few tears slide earlier, but that she was much calmer now. 

"You know you can't see the stars from down here, right?" he said as he looked up at the ceiling, just like Sam had been.  
She continued to look up as she spoke. "Tch, I know. Just because I'm looking in one direction doesn't mean I'm focusing my eyes on anything. My gaze just drifts off when I'm lost in thought."  
"These thoughts have anything to do with your little brother?"  
She squinted as she looked over at Raph. "You're so interested in meeting him now, aren't you?"  
"It's not every day you meet a fellow sai master."  
"Sai master?" she asked mockingly.  
"Yes, I'm a master, a pro at what I do."  
"And I can fly around this room with my eyes closed."  
"Yeah, you can with that board of yours."  
Sam was silent for a second. "Oh hey I actually can now" she said with a laugh. "Aw crap, I just agreed to calling you a master without meaning to. I have dishonored my family."  
"Way to go slick" he teased, happy to see the girl smile again. "_Happy? Why the heck am I happy that she's smiling? I don't care about how she feels. That's right, I don't care about this chick, so then why the heck am I up here-"  
_"So why are you up here anyway?" Sam asked, cutting off his thoughts.  
Raph's face was blank and calm, but mentally he was freaking out. He didn't want her to know that he sensed she was upset and then went to talk to her, he couldn't believe it himself that he was up here for that reason. He needed an excuse and fast.  
"I needed a spotter."  
She gave him a questioning look. "You're working out in the middle of the night?"  
"Yeah, I finally have some peace and quiet now that you two aren't training and goofing off in the dojo" he said as he tried to maintain a serious look and sound tough as usual rather than revealing how nervous he was.  
Sam shrugged her shoulders. "Fair enough." She sat up and walked over towards the pole near the opening and slid down to the ground floor where the workout station was.  
Raph was just relieved that she bought his excuse. "_Alright, I already exercised earlier today, so I'll make this as quick as possible and I'll head back to my room. Then I won't have to talk to her anymore."  
_As Raph headed down towards the workout station, he was shocked to see Sam adding weights to the barbell.  
"Where does your strength come from?"  
"Hella sports" she said as she placed the last weight on.  
Raph grinned. "You need to add more weight to it.  
Her eyes went wide. "The weights 450, how much more do you need?"  
"All the way up to 580."  
"…I feel like a twig…"  
Raph laughed. "I'm sure you still bench press a lot more than most people your size."  
Sam looked over at him. "No way, I'm not telling you."  
He put his hands up in defense. "I promise I won't judge."  
"…150…"  
"How much do you weigh?"  
"Dude! You NEVER ask a woman how much she weighs!"  
"You do when you're trying determine whether she's pulling her weight, literally."  
Sam glared at him. "I'm 120" she mumbled.  
Raph nodded. "Then you're actually doing better than you should be" he said as he laid down and grabbed onto the barbell and started his reps.  
Sam stood behind some, but still made sure to keep an eye on him just to be safe. "I am?"  
"Yeah, someone your weight should be lifting somewhere between 80 to 125 pounds, so you lifting 150 is pretty damn good. Guess I can't call you a twig anymore" he said with a grin. 

The two sat in silence for a few minutes until Sam realized that she should take advantage of this time where Raph was calm and be honest with him.  
"Sorry for beating your high score in that racing game. If I had known it was such a big deal than I wouldn't have played it."  
Raph peeked over and noticed her gloomy expression as she stared at the t.v. over in the living room.  
"Tch, I just wish I knew how you reached a score that high. I've never gotten that close. Must be lucky, since it was your first time playing" he said bluntly.  
"Heh, obviously that was a lie. Sorry for that as well. I've played that and other racing games tons of times, so I've gotten really good at finding cheat codes and secret techniques and all kinds of things that help boost my score." 

Raph could tell that Sam was slowly starting to get depressed again, so he decided to change things up. He placed the barbell in its holder and stood up.  
"So, how many pushups can you do?"  
She shrugged.  
"You don't know?" he asked as he paused his reps and stilled the barbell, placing it in its holder.  
"I've never counted before."  
"Well, start counting now." He motioned for her to follow him as he walked into the dojo, and with a smile she did just that.  
The two faced each other as they got on the ground and began their pushups.  
"So, do your brother's bench press?" Sam asked.  
"Yup."  
"How much?"  
"Ummmm, from what I can remember, Mikey was next in line at about 540, Leo wasn't far behind that at about 525, and then Donnie comes in last with 450."  
"Jeez, being thin doesn't mean shit when it comes to that guy" Sam said in amazement "I mean the other day when you guys were training, he literally flipped Mikey over his shoulder. How is he not the same size as the rest of you guys?"  
"Heh, he used to wonder the same thing and it really bothered him for a while. Then he got older and when he beat us in speed and height he didn't care so much, he can be a real ass when it comes to being the tallest though."  
"You just called someone else an ass? Is it snowing outside?" she mocked.  
He stopped and glared at her. "I'm not always an ass you know, I can be a nice guy."  
"And I'm a Victoria's secret model" she said as she miserably failed at holding in her chuckles.  
Playfully, he leaned his weight onto one arm and pushed Sam over.  
Jokingly she glared at him. "Dude! What gives?"  
"Oh well, guess you have to start all over."  
"And what was that about not being an ass?"  
Just as she was getting ready, he pushed her over again.  
"That's it" she said as she swung her foot around, hoping to knock him off his balance as well. Of course, he just stayed still, knowing that her kick wouldn't harm him at all. Sam withdrew her foot and pouted at the fact that she couldn't do what he had done to her.  
"How's it feel to hit steal?" Raph said with a huge smile.  
"Soft and squishy, like flubber."  
Raph rolled his eyes as he stood up. "Well, since you failed to keep your balance while doing pushups, we'll try pullups next." 

Without either of them realizing it, the two talked while going through one of Raph's normal workout routines for many hours throughout the night. Raph enjoyed working out with his other brothers, but sometimes it was more annoying than anything. Some days Mikey was a fun and serious work out partner, and then some days he just goofed off a bit too much. Leo was odd in the sense that one day he might talk away while working out, and other days he wanted it to be dead silent. Donnie had his own workout routines and usually completed them when others weren't around, since he still slightly detested that he couldn't keep up with his brothers strength. Knowing all this, Raph enjoyed having someone he could talk to while going through his normal routines. Of course he would never admit to himself or to anyone that he actually enjoyed the girls company. He would take it to his grave that she was the one who came to him and wouldn't leave him alone. Sam knew this, but she didn't mind. She knew that everyone needed a first step when getting to know someone, and even though she had a feeling Raph would always deny it, she knew that this was his, and early the next morning around 6a.m. when Mikey wondered where Sam had been since she wasn't in his room and he found her and Raph asleep on the couch together, as he moved Sam to the bed in his room he also secretly knew this about his older brother as well.

***Sunday June 1****st****, early morning in the lair***

"Okay, now you crack the egg on the side of the pan. You have to do it hard, but gently at the same time" Sam explained.  
Leo looked confused as hell. "So, which is it?"  
"Ummm, right in between. As best as you can get to that" Sam said as she shrugged her shoulders.  
"You're not good at explaining things, are you?"  
"Not really, I know what I do and try my best to put that into words. Sorry."  
Leo did his best to crack the egg 'hard but gently' and luckily he got a solid crack on the egg. He went to open it and put it in the pan, but Sam lightly grabbed his arm and slid a small bowl in front of him.  
"Drop it in here."  
"Why would I put it in a small dish?"  
"In case there's any shell. Trust me you don't want to eat that."  
Leo nodded. "Makes sense, good call." 

Sam had recently learned that it was Mikey and Donnie who did a lot of the cooking in the family, and that Raph and Leo knew little to nothing. So, she offered to teach him some basics. She wasn't a master chef or anything, but her older brother Brian had taught her everything she really knew about cooking, so she tried her best to pass these basic teachings on to Leo. 

"This is just fun to watch" Mikey said as he sat at the table in the eatery, his chin resting in his hands, his elbows resting on the table.  
"Hey! Hushity-hush! Don't distract my student!" Sam exclaimed.  
Leo turned towards her and gave a blank expression. "I'm sorry what?"  
"You can call me sensei" she said with a beaming smile.  
"Not. A chance. Ever."  
"Master?"  
"Nope."  
"Teacher?"  
"Never."  
"How about-"  
"You should just stop now" Leo said with a sarcastic smile, resulting in chuckles from Mikey in the background.  
"Whatever you say oh fearless leader" she said, throwing the sarcasm and mockery right back at him.  
As Sam turned back towards the stove, Leo shot his younger brother a small grin. The two boys could tell that Raph must have allowed some time to talk to the girl, since Raph was the only one that called Leo this literally all the time. Leo's suspicions seemed to prove true when later on Raph entered the room and walked over to where the dojo was, since this was one of the times he usually trained on his own. Leo heard the sound of some paper crinkling and when Raph had left the room, he noticed Sam staring at what it was that he had dropped, a magazine that he had been reading. 

Throughout the rest of the day, Leo knew that something was up since Raph kept looking around for the magazine, and later found it in a place that they both knew wasn't where he had left it, but of course Raph wouldn't question it because that would be him asking others for help, and he tried to refrain from that as much as possible.  
_"Huh, I wonder what that kids up to" _Leo thought, as he then wondered why he cared in the first place, since he was supposed to be like his younger two brothers and not care about the girl or what she did. At least, that's what the three continued to tell themselves.

***Monday June 2****nd****, 4:00p.m.***

Donnie was currently working on his and the brothers truck when Mikey walked over asking for his assistance.  
Donnie hopped out from the back opening of the truck and walked over to his brother. "Hey Mikey, what's up?"  
"Follow me!" he said, a skip in his step.  
"*sigh* why now?"  
Mikey turned back to face him with an irked look. "Dude, it's nothing major, but I think you'll like it. Come onnnnnnnaaa!"  
Donnie rolled his eyes and followed his brother. They walked out the exit way that the truck would use to get onto the streets. When they reached the exit way that lead into the city, Mikey pulled up the door and there was Sam, using all her strength to push an extremely old and worn out motorcycle into the sewer walkway.  
Donnie was shocked, and very confused. "Why? And how?"  
Sam stopped and leaned on the wall, catching her breath. "Your annoying older brother keeps complaining that he doesn't have his own wheels, and he'll never admit that he actually talked to me first and not the other way around. He thinks he hates me, but he's wrong" she said as she pointed to Donnie in confidence of her words. "So, after I fix this up, we'll see how much he still 'hates me' then."  
"Sam, where did you get this? Did you pay money for this?" Donnie said with a mix of amusement that she would go so far to help Raph, but also in frustration that she would spend so much money on helping them.  
She shook her head. "Naw, found it in a junkyard. And it only cost the truck that got it here about 8 bucks since the drive wasn't that far away. I might have to spend some money on certain materials like paint, but if I got help finding spare parts and things like that then it would be a lot cheaper" she said with a wide all teeth showing smile.  
"Heyyyy, how come you're not asking me to help?" Mikey pouted.  
"Do you know how to get a motorcycle up and running?"  
"…no…" he said in defeat.  
"Don't worry fam, if your brother helps me out, then you can assist us. I don't have the strength to do everything on my own" she said as she put a hand on his shoulder.  
"Hmmm, I don't know," Donnie cut in, "I mean I already have a lot to work on right now with the truck and the med wing, things that could really benefit us in the long run."  
"I can help with those."  
"Really? How can you help?"  
"I have some basic skills when it comes to construction and rewiring, you know, things along those lines. Plus I can help you get materials. My brother somehow has friends in all types of different career fields. Oh! And I have these!" she said as she tossed him a bag.  
Donnie curiously inspected the bag. It seemed to be a cooling bag that could keep materials that needed to be refrigerated cold. He unzipped the top of the bag and inside were tons of different Japanese juice boxes of all different flavors.  
His eyes went wide as he rummaged through the bag, observing the countless flavors.  
"How did you know I drink these?" he asked in amazement.  
"Not gonna lie, it was a huge hunch. I had a strong feeling you would like these. Guess I was right. Told you owing you wouldn't be a big deal" she said with a smile. "So, whaddya say?" she asked, raising her eyebrows and nudging him with her elbow.  
"Alright, it's a deal" he said as he playfully pushed her away from elbowing him. "Come on Mikey, we'll find ways for you to help out if you want."  
"Sweet! And don't worry I'm the best at keeping secrets!" he exclaimed as he wrapped his arms around the other twos shoulders, and they all walked off to find a spot where they could work on the motorcycle in secret.

***Friday June 6****th****, later in the evening***

Throughout the week when she wasn't teaching Leo how to cook or helping Donnie with their new projects, Sam continued to train with Mikey. The two were currently on break from another training session. Raph was working out at the moment, mainly because this is what more than half of his day consisted of, but also because he liked to monitor the girl's progress in her training. Actually, all the remaining brothers liked to see Sam progress in her training with Mikey since she was already decently skilled to begin with, but her movements had gotten much faster since the first time they had all met her, and visibly she was changing as well. Her muscle size hadn't increased dramatically, but they were a bit more toned now, and even though she was still very thin, the fact that she even had muscle was very recognizable, unlike in the past when her muscles couldn't be seen except when being used. 

Raph glanced over at the two friends who were getting a drink in the kitchen when he noticed that Sam was staring off into space. He looked in the same direction she was and noticed that she was staring at the spot on the weapons wall where the sais were. Raph kept a straight face, (there's no way he could smile in front of the other two) and walked over to where they were sitting. Sam was still staring off into space for a few more seconds before she realized Raph was heading over in their direction. Mikey on the other hand instantly sensed when his brother began walking over in their direction and quickly turned to face him. He saw that Raph's eyes were on Sam and he paused, nervous about what his brother was going to say to the girl. 

"Wanna take em for a test run?" Raph said facing Sam.  
She turned to him, her eyebrows raising. "Hm?" she asked as her brow furrowed in curiosity as she wondered when Raph had entered the room.  
"Do you. Want to. Practice with them?" he said as he pointed towards the smaller set of sais.  
Sam turned towards Mikey. Even though her face was blank, he knew that she was asking for his approval since she didn't want to just abandon her friend.  
Mikey smiled at her. "Your brother has been distracting you for the past half hour. Go make him proud" he said as he tilted his head towards the back wall.  
Sam gave him a huge smile and darted towards the weapons wall.  
Raph looked at his brother with curiosity. "You knew about them belonging to her brother?"  
"Yeah, she told me about them belonging to him and she brought the second one every day once she discovered its partner was here, waiting for a safe moment to put it back. How did you know they belonged to her brother?" he said, squinting his eyes at his older brother.  
Raph froze before he spoke. "She got caught, but I decided to let her off easy. She seemed upset about it" he said, trying to shrug off the situation.  
"So why didn't you take advantage of that? You passed up a chance at attacking her at her weakest point? You didn't continue to verbally beat the shit out of her?" he said in a bogusly serious tone.  
"Oh I'm about to beat the shit out of someone" Raph said as he cracked his knuckles.

***Themes:  
BTS-Back Breaker (audio)  
BTS-Silver spoon (audio)  
G Dragon-Obsession (audio)***

"Are we doing this or not?" Sam called out from the dojo.  
The two boys looked away from each other and over at her, both interested in how these events would play out.  
Sam was standing on the right side of the dojo, lightly jumping and getting her body warmed up for the sparring that would soon prevail.  
Raph leaped down from the small ledge and walked over to the left side of dojo.  
"You ready?"  
"Eh" she shrugged. "Don't expect anything great, I'm still rusty."  
"Heh, well let's see how you hold up" he said with a grin. 

And as soon as those last few words left his lips, the two were charging at each other.  
The two moved swiftly as the sais from one fighter clashed with those of their opponent. Raph waited for an open moment and swung his elbow in an attempt to push the girl forward, but what he wasn't expecting was for her to jump back some when he did this and to then hook her sai with his and try to move them around together. Usually when someone did this, it was to move and then pull the sai out of their opponents hand, which normally this would have worked, but since Sam was obviously much weaker than Raph, this move backfired and it was Raph who actually knocked Sam's sai out of her own hand. 

"Dang, if only she had more strength" Donnie said in excitement.  
Sam looked over at him in confusion, wondering when the heck he got here. She then noticed that Leo was sitting on the other side of Mikey who was sitting in the middle of the group of three. She wondered what was with these guys wanting to watch her whenever she was sparring with someone.  
"Hey slick, stay focused" Raph said as he tossed Sam back the second sai.  
She shrugged. "Okay" and then ran back towards him at full force. That quickly the brawl was back on and the sounds of clanging sais could be heard all throughout the lair, which was what drew the other two brothers over towards the dojo in the first place. 

"How does she know how to hold them correctly?" Leo asked aloud and then turning towards Mikey.  
"I don't know what you're asking" he stated with his eyebrows raised.  
"What he's asking is how does she know where to place her fingers when using the sais? Since if you place your fingers in the wrong spot and if you hold them incorrectly then every time you pull the weapons back you can easily cut yourself. But Leo's right, she's holding them the correct way, and she's doing a pretty good job at defending herself, though she has to fight very defensively since Raph's strength outweighs hers."  
"Oh, I guess her younger brother taught her" Mikey replied.  
"Her younger brother?" questioned Leo.  
"Hey man, you'll have to ask her about that, it's not my story to tell" he said defensively as he gave his brother an innocent yet serious look.  
Leo nodded and continued to watch the fight. 

The two fought on for a good while longer. There were a few times where Raph was able to knock Sam back or knock her down, but each time this happened, Sam would always swipe and curve her sai upwards in attempt to bring his leg up and have him fall on his back. The first couple of times she tried, she came close to succeeding, but by the third attempt she knew she was making herself easy to read, so she had to try out a new move. 

Sam ran forward and twisted the blades so that they were facing away from her opponent and then threw her right arm up towards Raph's shoulder. He twisted his blades so that they faced away from Sam as he blocked her hand. At the same time, Sam had performed the same move but with her left arm swinging down towards Raph's waist. This was also blocked, but for a split second Sam had a chance to perform a move she had only seen once in her lifetime. While both Raph's arms were currently blocked, Sam leaned back as far as she could without falling, brought her knee up, and then aimed at kicking Raph in the chin. Raph however had performed this move thousands of times and knew that Sam's positioning was a bit off, so he easily dodged the attack. Right after, he swung his right arm out of Sam's grip and lightly hit her in the shoulder, resulting in her jumping back and calling a truce. 

"Anddd I'm out!" she exclaimed as she put her hands up in defense while still holding her sais.  
"Awww, what? Come on!" she heard multiple voices calling out behind Raph.  
"Aren't those my lines?" he joked as he turned around to face his brothers.  
"Hey, you three take a solid blow from that!" she said, pointing towards Raph, "and then you can complain!" Raph chuckled. He enjoyed when people pointed out how strong he was. He then turned towards Sam.  
"Who taught you how to do that last move?"  
"No one. I saw someone do it once and I attempted to copy it. I was running out of moves so I had to come up with something."  
"Was it your younger brother?" Leo asked.  
Sam turned towards Mikey with wide eyes and a fake smile, signaling that he wasn't in trouble, but that she was still irritated depending on what exactly he had shared with his brothers.  
"All I said was that you younger brother might have taught you to fight that's it!" he exclaimed in one breathe.  
She nodded as her expression softened. She then turned towards Leo. "Yeah, it was my younger brother actually. He took some self-defense classes with me in the past and these specifically were his weapon of choice" she said as she held up the weapons in her hand. "I saw him perform that move once during training and I tried to copy it."  
"Wait, you only saw him perform that move once?" Raph asked.  
"I told you my moves were rusty!" Sam exclaimed.  
Raph rolled his eyes. "I ain't complaining, I'm asking because that was way too accurate for a first time try-out."  
"That was good? I totally missed."  
"Yeah, because you're going up against a pro. What you just did would have easily knocked out any amateur on the street."  
Sam started brushing off her shoulders, pretending to act like she had known what she was doing all along.  
"Did you guys ever practice with any other weapons?" Donnie cut in.  
"Uh, yeah a few different types. Why?"  
"You ever learn to fight with a bo?"  
"A little bit yeah."  
"Alright, my turn!" he said as he hopped off the ledge.  
"Do I get any say in this?" she asked playfully.  
He breathed in, and exhaled a "No" with a smile.  
"Eh okay, hey Mikey-"  
"Already on it!" he shouted as he ran back into the room and tossed Sam her two tonfa. She then extended them both, collapsed the handles, and then connected the two together.  
Raph smiled as he walked by Donnie. "Don't go easy on her, she's tougher than she looks."  
"That or you're just weaker than you thought" he teased.  
Raph nudged his brother. "Heh, smartass" he joked.  
As Raph took his seat next to Mikey, Donnie got his bo ready as he pushed it forward and it also extended some. He got in ready position on the right side of the dojo as Sam also prepped herself on the far side of the dojo.  
"321go!" Mikey shouted, and the two charged at each other.  
Donnie was shocked at how easily Sam was able to keep up with his movements. Every time he brought his bo up to swiftly bring it down for an attack from above, she always knew how to position her weapon so that she could block the attack. The two were neck and neck for a while until Sam got a quick second for a fake attack. She made it seem like she was going to push her bo forward for a central attack, but instead, when Donnie moved his bo forward to block the attack, she pulled her bo back and then grabbed his. Once he was in a position where for a split second he couldn't move, Sam turned some and brought her leg up and pushed Donnie back some. 

Raph rolled his eyes. "What part of 'don't go easy on her' didn't he understand?" he mumbled.  
"He's not going easy on her, he's shocked that that even happened. She's obviously way more skilled with this weapon" Leo said, not realizing that there was a small smile creeping upon his lips. He found this girl intriguing. You never knew what she was hiding up her sleeve or what she was going to do next. 

Donnie stood for a couple of seconds in shock at the strength that this girl now had. He knew her muscles were much more visible now compared to when they first met, but he hadn't realized just how strong she had become. Knowing this, he knew he could play a bit more on the offensive side now rather than just fighting defensively. 

It took a while for Sam to realize just how fast she and Donnie had been moving. Both of their movements had been so swift and fluid that she hadn't realized just how much the fight had picked up speed.  
Unfortunately for her, Sam ended up moving a split second to short at one point and Donnie took full advantage of this as he hit his bo against hers and then swiftly moved the two in a curved downwards position where Sam's bo was pushed outwards, leaving the entire front of her body wide open for an attack. As Donnie moved forward and swung his bo with him aiming for the center of Sam's body, he could see in her eyes that she knew she had messed up, and because of this she knew exactly which way to move when dodging the attack.  
As she dodged in the same direction that his bo was moving in, she then just as quickly spun around and tried to attack with her bo as it was held in a long upwards position, but already Donnie had moved back to a position where he could block the attack. With quick spontaneous thinking, she then tried to swing the bottom half of the bo back up in an attempt to knock the opposing weapon from Donnie's hand, but he sensed this attack coming and quickly moved back some with his bo in front of him. He then twisted his bo sideways and pushed it forwards when Sam's was in the middle as he then spun around and swung his leg up. Sam was able to duck in time, knowing that with the momentum of his swing, he wouldn't be able to stop in time and bring his leg down to hit her. 

The two continued their back and forth fight of attacking and dodging until Leo had grown impatient.  
"Times up!" Leo called out.  
Donnie stopped and faced his eldest brother. "Exsqueeze me?"  
"This fight been going on longer than Raph's."  
"Oh, really?" Donnie asked.  
"I dunno, but you've stopped now" he said as he shrugged his shoulders.  
"HA" Sam quickly shut her mouth and looked away, trying to hide how hilarious she thought that situation played out as Donnie turned back and playfully glared at her.  
Mikey couldn't help himself and burst out laughing. Even Raph was chuckling a bit. "Dang Leo, that was messed up, I totally approve though."  
Donnie rolled his eyes as he turned back towards Sam. "You've studied the use of that weapon wayyyyy more than the previous one" he said with a smile.  
Sam rubbed the back of her head. "Hehe, yeah. This almost became my weapon of choice, so I practiced with this one a lot more than the others. Yes those others include katanas" she said as she gave Leo a playful yet serious look. He paused for a moment, a bit dazed by the fact that she had answered a question he hadn't even opened his mouth to ask yet. As the two opponents continued talking, Leo walked over to the weapons wall to get some katanas for Sam.  
"So" Donnie began, "what made you turn towards your weapon versus mine?"  
"Well for one, tonfa allow wider and more flexible movements, which I personally liked better. Second, your weapon is good for people whose strength is more so in their legs than their arms, not saying that bo users have no arm strength, but from what I've seen it's a good weapon when it comes to being quick on your feet. Overall I was good at this, but apparently various tests showed that there was a slight difference in how I applied strength using my legs and feet versus my hands and arms, so I was also recommended my weapon."  
Donnie nodded. "Makes sense, I get this feeling you were also told that it would have benefited you more if you were taller because then it might have been a bit easier for you to provide stronger blows from your legs rather than your arms" he said with a smirk.  
She squinted her eyes at him. "So you are smart enough to read minds."  
"Heads up" Leo called as he tossed a sword towards Sam. She caught it and gave him a doubtful look. "Are you expecting me to fight with this? Dude, how strong do you think I am?" she asked as she tossed it back to him. At the same time he had tossed her another sword, and she replied the same way.  
This went on for a few seconds until finally they found a perfect match. Sam looked over the katana and was glad that there was a set that had some strength behind it, but wasn't too heavy for her to swing and fight with.  
"Alright, this will do." Leo tossed her the matching katana and the two went to their sides of the dojo. Donnie took a seat on the other side of Mikey as the three boys got ready for the next fight.  
"Annnnddd 321go!" Mikey called out. For the most part he had actually been watching quietly, but that was because he had been taking mental notes on both how his best friend had been fighting and things she needed to work on another day during training, and also on how his brothers acted and reacted towards her fighting and to her personally. Overall, Mikey was satisfied with everything that he had observed so far that evening. 

Leo and Sam rushed towards each other, once again creating the loud crashes of their katanas colliding with each other and echoing throughout the lair. Instantly Leo could tell that Sam was back to the way she was when she had been fighting against Raph. She knew some basics like how to hold and slice with the katanas and how to quickly dodge attacks, but her movements definitely weren't as fast as they were when she had been fighting Donnie. Knowing this, Leo decided to try something different. He anticipated that she would block his attack when bringing both his blades forward, and she did just as he predicted and blocked in the exact stance that he foresaw as well. Instead of standing in place when he attacked, he began walking and pushing forward. Sam hadn't anticipated this and not knowing what to do, she continued to push forward as well. Leo continued to quickly walk forward and push Sam with him, waiting to see what she would do next.  
"You gonna fight back, or are you dead already?" he mocked.  
Sam struggled as she continued to push forward until she saw a crack in the floor that looked to be about a decent size. Without time to think, she shoved one of her katanas into the crack and quickly swung around, so as Leo went forward, she was now behind him. She would have had the upper hand if she could have pulled the blade from the crack, but she had used too much force to get the katana in, and now she couldn't pull it back out.  
Sam backed up some and put her hands up in defeat. "Well guess I'm dead" she said with a mix of humor and frustration in her voice, upset that the fight was already over because of her blunder.  
"Not yet" Leo said as he pulled the katana out of the crack and then tossed it and one of his own off to the side.  
Sam understood and smiled to signal so, and the fight went on. The two sliced, swiped, and dodged for a while. Sam seemed to be much better at fighting with one blade rather than with two since her movements were suddenly much quicker. Leo thought that if the girl just had more strength to her, then even masters like Karai would shiver in fear when fighting her. If she was this quick and this skilled as an amateur, he couldn't imagine what it would be like to fight her as a trained ninja with more strength, speed, and skill behind her. What amazed him the most was that every time he thought she was at a weak point, she quickly found a way to try and use that to her advantage. If he moved closer and used his arm to push her back or knock her down, she somehow found a way to then come back at an unexpected angle. Leo stepped forward and pushed her so that the only way to block the attack would be to turn and leave her backside wide open. Instead, she turned completely around and swung the blade over her head and behind her to block her back, and then as she pulled her blade forward and made Leo's katana pull back up, she then swiftly turned and tried to swing her leg near Leo's thigh. Once again, he knew that in a normal fight she would have spun further and aimed for her enemy's stomach and landed the kick there, but because her weight was outmatched, she aimed for a lower 'softer' part of his body instead. 

The two continued to fight some until Mikey grew tired of sitting in silence.  
"Leooooooooo! I want a turn!" Mikey whined.  
The fight ended, but Leo noticed Sam shaking her head with wide eyes and slowly backing away.  
"If you want me to fight with your weapon then I'm out, I surrender now, I'm bailing."  
All three of the older brothers looked over at her, their jaws almost touching the floor.  
"Wait, why?" Leo asked in shock.  
"Because I don't know how! After all I've done so far, I'm not embarrassing myself by fighting with a weapon I don't EVEN KNOW HOW to fight with yet!"  
"Lameeeeee" Mikey teased, "but fine, pick whatever weapon you want."  
Sam went back over, disconnected her tonfa, and ran back over to her side of the dojo.  
"This ought to be interesting" Leo mumbled as he sat between Raph and Donnie. 

It was this fight that truly displayed how much Sam's training had paid off. All three observers were blown away with how rapidly she threw punches and kicks and with how swift and fluid each and every one of her motions was. It was extremely obvious that this was the weapon she had practiced with the most. 

"Hey do the move" Mikey said as the two continued to spar.  
"What? No way. I'm not going to attack with a move when you know it ahead of time!"  
"That's because you can't do it."  
Sam glared at her friend as they fought, playfully signaling that she hated that he could read her like a book. With his short amount of teasing, Mikey backed up as Sam ran forward as she swung her right leg around, leading her to leap and spin herself in the air as she brought down one of her tonfa above Mikey's head. He blocked the attack by holding each handle of one of his nunchuks and pulled them so that Sam's tonfa connected with the chain of his weapon.  
"Nice, but you still need to get higher" he said as the two continued to fight.  
This continued on as Mikey continued to call out moves and techniques that he wanted her to try, and their actions went more so from fighting to having Sam display all the moves she had been practicing.  
After a while, it was obvious that Sam was tired out.  
"Awww there's no round two?" Raph called out.  
"Dude, I just fought four people in an amount of time that surpasses any of my games or performances. Give a girl a chance to breathe" she said as she fanned herself with her hand. "Besides, it's not like I'm going anywhere."  
Leo raised an eyebrow at her. "You're not going home?"  
"No, it's Friday, and I have a late game tomorrow, and then an even later rehearsal. I always stay late on weekends."  
"Might as well just move in" Raph said, his speech filled with sarcasm.  
"OKAY!" Mikey shouted, followed by a small grunt after being shoved by Raph.  
Ignoring his brother's antics, Leo walked over towards Sam. "I get this feeling you're going to be here even more once school ends right?"  
"Yup!" Sam replied with a beaming smile.  
"You interested in training with us?"  
She stared at him with a blank expression. "What's the joke?"  
"There is no joke."  
"…So you're serious?"  
"Yes."  
"You swear?"  
"Yeah."  
"Positive?"  
"Do you want me to say no?"  
"No I'm good!" Sam said, failing to hide her smile. 

She expected to hear complaints from the other brother's as Leo turned away to head towards the kitchen, but they never came. All she heard afterwards was Donnie talking to Leo about some stuff he had found online about the Foot clan, and Raph teasing and wrestling with Mikey. Not too long after, Splinter had entered the lair from the entrance closest to the kitchen. He saw Sam standing in the entryway to the dojo and walked over to her.  
"Ah Samantha, how are you doing this evening?"  
"…what?" she asked, seeming a bit dazed.  
"Did something happen my child? Something good, bad?"  
"Um, that depends. Are you okay if I join you and your family every now and then when you guys train together?"  
Splinter successfully hid his joy in knowing that things must be going well between her and his sons for her to be able to ask him this question. "Hmmm I don't know, do you think you'll be able to handle the same rigorous routines that they go through?"  
"Sir, I got this, especially after what happened today."  
"Then I don't see why not. Oh, but you'll have to call me sensei from now on though."  
"Got it, understood."  
"Come, why don't you join me in getting some refreshments from the kitchen."  
"Alright, thanks sensei" she said with a sincere smile as she walked over with him and joined the brothers in the kitchen. 

Splinter continued to act natural, but he couldn't wait until much, much later that night when he would get a chance to sit down with Michelangelo who would update him on all that had happened while he was away from the lair.

***Later that night***

It was about 3a.m. when Leo awoke on the couch. He had been sitting in a half upright half slouched back position with his head leaned back against the top of the couch. He slowly lifted his head up as he realized that he must have fallen asleep in the living room. Just as he went to stand up and head to his room, he realized there was some weight on his left thigh. He had to squint for a few seconds as his eyes adjusted to the darkness (there were various small lamps throughout the lair, but overall it was still hard to see unless the lights were turned on.) As his eyes adjusted, he realized that it was Sam who had laid her head down where his thigh was. The last thing he remembered was watching some re-runs of The Big Bang Theory with Sam and his brothers, so he assumed that maybe he had fallen asleep on the couch first and that everyone else had headed to bed before Sam decided to get cozy in the position that she was. He began to blush a bit, but then he realized that he had seen this happen a few times recently. 

One of the more recent times was earlier that week on Monday. Sam had been working with Donnie on the truck when they both discovered they were both fans of the new Planet of the Apes films and decided to watch the first two so that they could start preparing for the third. The two had fallen asleep together on the couch with Sam's head at one end and her lying across the couch so that her feet were at the other end, and then Donnie vice versa. He had seen this happen a few times between the two now that they were finding more movies and shows that they were both fans of. 

Also, a couple of days just before this, Leo woke up in the middle of the night and decided to go to the kitchen to get some water only to find Raph and Sam asleep on the couch together. They were in the same position that he and Sam were in now, except it was Sam who was sitting upright and Raph who had his head on Sam's lap. He assumed that Raph had curled up in this position once Sam had already fallen asleep and assumed that he would wake up in time before anyone had caught him, even though both he and Mikey had caught Raph like this. 

And then there was Mikey who was always snuggled up with his best friend. Sometimes Leo wondered about the two of them, since they would lay on the couch together with Sam lying right in front of Mikey. When he confronted his younger brother, he insisted that they both found lying down to be more comfortable than sitting up. When he then asked why sometimes Mikey would have his arm around the girl when lying on the couch, again he said that that way was more comfortable. Mikey also insisted that there could never be anything romantic between the two because A. he was into blonde girls with blue eyes, and B. because Sam was into Asian guys, so their relationship 'obviously' would never work out. There were a few times where Leo also confronted Sam when no one was around and asked her similar questions and oddly got extremely similar responses. She said the same thing about their personal preferences, but she also admitted that being a tomboy, she saw it no different than when she saw close male friends from her k-pop groups do similar things with each other. It didn't mean there were any romantic relations between the groupmates, it just meant that they were all that close with each other, that they each had unique friendships and just did what felt comfortable (though in their cases it was also for fan-service). Both Sam and Mikey recognized that they were a guy and girl hanging out, but since Sam dressed and acted in a way that made it seem like she was just 'one of the guys,' it broke some barriers, resulting in the non-romantic feelings of cuddling up with each other on the couch. It was a bit odd and sometimes didn't really make any sense, but it was just how the two were. 

Leo decided to roll with it, since both Sam and Mikey were very unique characters in his book. He continued to think back to moments where he could sense Donnie and Raph slowly warming up to Sam as he also began to realize that there hadn't been as much arguing and yelling, well, at or with Sam that is, since Raph was always yelling about something, and Mikey was just always loud in general. He carefully lifted her so that he could stand up, and then he gently lay her back down. He walked and got a blanket from his room and draped it over her as she slept soundly. 

As he headed back to his room he realized that as much as he felt defeated by it, he couldn't deny that he now saw the girl as a friend. She was talking with all four of the brothers more and more and had even been holding conversations with April, and he'd be a liar if he said that he didn't enjoy the conversations that he had had with her himself. He'd also be a liar if he said that he didn't enjoy the sparring from earlier that day. Each of his brothers had chosen their own weapon that only they had truly mastered, so it was fun getting to fight someone else who could use the same weapon as him. Once again, he had walked all the way to his bedroom without realizing there was a smile on his face, but there was a difference in this situation. This time, if someone had told him that he had been smiling, he wouldn't have denied it.

**So, are the fight scenes still decent? Is there anything I need to improve on? Constructive criticism is greatly appreciated! **

**Sorry for such a late update! But hopefully this super long chapter makes up for it.**

**And thank you for continuing to read my story so far! I still can't believe I now have 14 chapters of a story that I can actually and officially call mine! So thank you to those who have continued to give my story a chance, it really does mean a lot!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

Chapter #15

***June 12****th****, Thursday, late evening: Sam and Mikey's POV***

Today was the last day of school for that year, so Sam and Mikey decided to head out that night as early as possible. For weeks now the two had been sneaking out and fighting crime together around town. They had only focused on smaller crimes that the two thought they could handle on their own as a duo, but slowly they had ben tackling more difficult crimes as well. Their goal was always to stop whatever the crime was before the cops needed to be called, and so far they had always been successful. Tonight was going to be their biggest challenge yet, sneaking in and spying on one of the Foot's hideouts. For the past few weeks that Sam and Mikey had been fighting together, they had also been spying on the Foot's whereabouts as best as they could, and so far the two had pin-pointed a specific building on Dot Street that seemed to be one of their newest locations. The two friends knew better than to storm in and attack on their own, they weren't that crazy, but they did plan on sneaking in for some harmless observations. 

"Alright, now repeat the plan back to me" Sam said as she double checked her back pack to make sure that it was tight and secured around her body.  
"We're going to enter the building through this vent up here, you're going to use your tablet as we slowly and carefully crawl through the vents so you can edit any cameras or detectors of any kind. I'm supposed to hold onto your hacking phone and try to record any and all voices and conversations that I hear. If possible, I should also silently take pictures. After a couple of hours or so, we're going to head back to the roof, make our way over to that parking garage next door, and you're going to try your best to set up and hack into any documents from the Foot's latest hideout" Mikey replied with a smile. Both friends were proud that he had actually understood and remembered every detail that Sam had explained to him.  
"Wow, well done. Looks like I don't have to repeat myself today."  
"Thanks, I think" he said as he nudged her.  
"Okay, you ready?"  
"Phone is attached to my cross-over strap, so I'm all set."  
"Booyakasha" she said as she held her fist in front of her.  
"Cowabunga" he replied while also returning the fist bump. Mikey then carefully pulled open the vent opening at the top of the building, allowed Sam to slide through and down the curved opening, and then he followed as he carefully pulled the vent covering back on. 

For about ten minutes or so the two didn't travel far since Sam had to take care of a lot of security measures. She already had to edit and disarm A LOT of cameras and alarms beforehand just so that they could even walk around and talk on the roof of the building, but she still had a lot to do before they could go roaming around the vents of the building. Finally she had hacked what she saw necessary, and slowly the two were on the move. For a long time the two crawled around the vents moving from room to room and even from floor to floor. They tried to find something interesting on the upper floors so that if something went wrong they could escape easily from the rooftops, but nothing suspicious could be found. All they could hear and see were Foot soldiers and Purple Dragons members walking around or training. Sam wasn't picking up on any phone calls being made or even any emails being sent. That's when it hit her. She quickly started typing on a note pad screen on her tablet, swiftly rolled over onto her back, and then handed the tablet to Mikey so he could read it.  
_"I think there's a chance Shredder might be here somewhere."  
_Mikey's eyes went wide as he typed in response and then handed the tablet back to Sam.  
_"What makes you think that?"  
"I'm not picking up on any phone calls being made or emails being sent, which means there's a good chance that Shredder is already here with a lot of his main men, that's why no messages are being sent back and forth."  
"What should we do? Is this too big for us then?"  
"No, as long as we vow only to observe, but we'll only stay on the top five floors and we should cut down our time to about another 45 minutes or so."  
_Mikey read the words on the screen and gave Sam a thumbs up. She took back the tablet and the two continued to slowly crawl throughout the vents.  
The entire 45 minutes consisted of nothing but what they had seen before Sam had discussed with Mikey about Shredder's location. The two were in the vents on the 10th of 15 floors when finally they found something that sent a chill down both their spines, Shredder himself. 

Shredder was in what looked like an office space with five other people. The two got their devices ready as they listened closely as they resided by a section of the vent towards the right side of the room that would lead them to the next floor up in case they needed a quick getaway. 

"Tatsu, how are things going with the males? Have they improved any?" Shredder asked as he faced the middle aged looking Asian man in the room.  
"They've definitely improved, but they still have a long way to go. Forgive me master, I'm trying the best I can to train and control the children. I try not to harm them, but at times it's what I must do. I understand if none of this meets your expectations and I'm ready to face any punishment you deem necessary" the man said as he bowed.  
"You're fine Tatsu, I brought you here to help train them for a reason. They're annoying brats, so do whatever you need to. Don't kill them, but if you must torture them then so be it. They'll eventually learn to bow to you and me. They're mine and they will learn this soon enough. Karai," he said as he then faced the younger Asian female, "how about you? How is your training going with the females?"  
"Overall the same details master, though I've been very rough with them from the start. If I may offer some advice to Tatsu" she said as she faced her companion, "don't worry about harming them in anyway. I discussed this with master earlier on, and me being violent towards them has helped tremendously in instilling fear into their eyes while also forcing them to hone their strength and skills. They all still have a long way to go, but they're also improving quicker than I would have expected."  
Tatsu and Shredder nodded, and then Shredder turned towards a large, buff man with blonder hair pulled back into a ponytail.  
"Hun, how about you?"  
"Not many of them are able to understand how our weapons work, but there are a select few who seem to naturally grasp on to what their told. They all shiver in fear, but even when we scare them into following orders, only a few truly understand and can comprehend how to use the guns. With your blessing master, I would like to focus on making them gun specialists, and let Karai and Tatsu focus on taming the others."  
"Alright, as long as this will benefit my army, then I'll allow it. They better be well trained in the end then."  
"Thank you master, you won't regret this" Hun said as he bowed.  
Shredder then turned to his last student, Eric Sachs. "And how about you?"  
"*sigh* If I may be blunt sensei, these creatures are idiots when it comes to our technology. Luckily, there are a few who with much, much more training may start to get the hang of things. However, there is one who somehow is an incredible genius and actually loves working in the lab. I've been forcing our workers to teach him all they know, while being closely monitored of course, so that he can use both his brains and his brawn to work for us."  
"Which one would that be?"  
"The alligator. I believe I've heard the other creatures call him Leatherhead."  
Shredder nodded. "Focus on him, but any others worth using for technological gains should still be trained as well. The rest will just go through double the trainings with their masters."  
"I understand sensei" Sachs said as he bowed. 

"Alright. You are all doing well my students. Do whatever you need to in order to strengthen our army. Remember, you all are also on recruitment and training duty for our human soldiers as well, including watching over this one" he said as he turned toward Jordon Perry who was timidly hunched over in the corner of the room. Sam and Mikey were shocked to see him standing there, and they hated the blank stare from his eyes. His body shook with fear, but his solid gaze signaled that he had already endured some type of torture while he had been there. 

Suddenly, different alarms began going off. Mikey and Sam froze, waiting to see how the people in the room would react.  
Karai was the first to speak. "This is the fire alarm, maybe they picked up someone's scent. Master, what are your orders."  
"Take that shivering noodle in the corner and bring him with us. We'll use this as an attempt for our mutants to test their skills, see if there's any we shouldn't even worry about and should just get rid of now. Hun, Tatsu, advise your men to observe and report back to me what they can of the mutants skills afterwards. Meet with the rest of us at the main base. This is not our time to fight, we must prepare for a more serious future battle."  
All four adults bowed to their master, Karai grabbed the professor, and they all left the room to do what they needed to before they left the building. 

Once they had all exited the room, Sam and Mikey moved as quickly as they could. The vents were roomy enough to crawl through, but they were horrible for quick getaways. Sam saw hordes of soldiers running to the lower floors, so once she thought they were in the clear she led Mikey to an opening in the side of the vent. She kicked it open and the two were now walking around the 13th of 15 floors. The floor was empty, but they two got their weapons out as they ran and looked for a way they could move to the roof without being seen. They talked as they quickly moved around the hallways, looking for a staircase. 

"Do…do you think Shredder used the kidnapped animals to create a mutant army?" Sam asked, depressed at thinking of innocent animals working for a madman like Shredder.  
"I do, and what's worse is that it sounds like he's torturing them and the professor. How did Shredder get his hands on him anyway? We rescued him!"  
"Yeah, or at least we thought we di-" 

Sam and Mikey collided with two large beings in front of them as they rounded a corner. The two jumped back up and had their weapons ready to fight, but slowly they lowered their weapons, and their jaws followed. They both knew they were screwed as they stared at the also jaw dropped and pissed faces of Leonardo, Donatello, and Raphael. 

***Earlier that evening: Leo, Donnie, and Raph POV*  
**

Donnie was always doing the best that he could to track the Foot's movements. Sometimes he was more successful than others, the night where they couldn't get in contact with Mikey being a good example of the moments where he wasn't so successful and the Foot had the upper hand on them, but tonight was not one of those nights. For a few weeks he had been able to use news articles, hacked police reports, and also hacked video footage throughout the city to pin point a solid location that the Foot were currently hiding at. He had a feeling it wasn't their only base, but he thought that it was a good place to sneak into and try to gather as much information as he could about what Shredder's next big plan was. 

He had informed Leo of this earlier, and both the two and Raph had set out to gather any information they could. They were a few blocks away when they stopped on a roof top so that Donnie could start his hacking.  
"Still feels weird doing this without Mikey" Raph said looking off into the distance.  
"Don't worry, this time should be different" Donnie said as he pulled out multiple small devices and started typing away on each. "This time we know we're just sneaking around, and once I've disabled as many of their security devices as possible, then we shouldn't even have to worry about fighting anyone because we shouldn't come into contact with anyone. So if Mikey wants to hang out with Sam since it's her last day of school, then we should still be fine. Besides, he'd probably joke around too much in this type of situation. I mean he couldn't even keep quiet on the night that we went after Sam for the first time."  
"That seems like so long ag now" Leo said aloud as he continued to look out into the distance, constantly alert and on the lookout for anyone who might try to pull a fast attack on them.  
"I agree, but I think it's only been around a couple of months…that's weird."  
The older two brothers took a quick glance at the youngest. Raph continued his look out while Leo moved closer to Donnie.  
"What's going on?"  
"A lot of their main security systems have already been altered or disabled…which means that someone else may be sneaking around inside."  
"Oh come on! Please don't tell me it's our two idiots!" Raph shouted.  
"There's no way of knowing, but the type of skills and knowledge needed for this is quite complicated, which means there is a chance that it's them" Donnie replied as he rolled his head back, hoping that it wasn't Sam and Mikey. The way those two acted together, he feared that they would get caught instantly.  
"There has to be a way to contact them" Leo said with a bit of worry in his tone.  
"Sadly if he forgot to lower the volume on his shell cell, then we could easily be the reason that the two get caught, IF it is them. I don't know which situation is worse."  
"What do you mean?" Raph asked from afar.  
"If it's not them, then who knows who is actually sneaking around inside, and it could be bad news if they end up being another enemy towards us."  
"Regardless, we have to at least continue our main mission and try to gather any and all information that we can, especially if those two are in there" Leo stated.  
The other two brothers nodded, Donnie packed up all his belongings, and they all set out towards the main building on Dot Street. 

Within a few minutes the three reached their destination. Donnie had some small Go-Pro cameras that he handed to each of his brothers. All three of them had at least one strap that went across their chest that held some type of weapon or piece of equipment, so they each set up a small camera that could hopefully capture something that would be useful to them later on. 

"Are we good to go Donnie?" Leo asked.  
Donnie looked at a couple of small devices and then put them back into their holders. "From what I can tell, all main alarms have been disarmed. The few alarms that are still running have been altered to give us about two more hours for sneaking around. There's 15 floors to this building, so I'd recommend staying towards the upper floors as much as possible so that in case something goes wrong, we can still try to make a quick getaway."  
Leo nodded. "Alright, everyone have your cells ready in case we need to send an important update. We'll split up for now and try to move around and gather whatever we can. Stay in the vents unless there's an emergency situation. And STAY. QUIET" Leo said as he glared over at Raph, who rolled his eyes in return.  
"Alright, we're on the move" Leo said as he pulled open the cover of the vent. The younger two brothers entered first, and then Leo followed as he pulled the cover back onto the vent. 

The three crawled around for a long time only for each of them to find the same thing. They saw and heard Foot Soldiers and Purple Dragons members roaming around the halls or training in one of their rooms, but they didn't hear or see anything interesting, not until their 40 minute mark. Raph had been crawling around the 10th of the 15 floors when he happened to come across what seemed like a large office space. He was about to move on when Karai entered the room. He paused and tried to listen in as best as he could. He heard her instruct some soldiers on what they were to teach the subjects while she was at her meeting that would be held in about 5 more minutes. As the soldiers left the room, Raph's eyes went wide as he recognized the man that entered the room, Shredder.  
"Karai," Shredder said as he bowed, "where are the others?"  
"They'll be here soon master, they should only be a few more minutes" she replied after she bowed in return.  
Raph instantly sent a message to his brothers.  
_"Shredder is in the building! He's about the have a meeting with Karai. Meet me in the vents of the 10__th__ floor near the left side of the room of a large office space."  
_

Within the next couple of minutes both Leo and Donnie reunited with Raph in the vents. They listened carefully as they observed both the familiar faces of Shredder, Karai, and Eric Sachs, and also the new faces of men named Hun and Tatsu. All the brothers were confused as the humans below talked about males and females and whether they were doing well or if they weren't understanding what they were being taught. They all sat silently except for when Donnie lightly gasped when Sachs mentioned an alligator, but after that he made sure to stay silent. 

"Alright," Shredder began, "for now you are all doing well my students. Do whatever you need to in order to strengthen our army. Remember, you all are also on recruitment and training duty for our human soldiers as well, including watching over this one" he said as he turned toward Jordon Perry who was timidly shrugged over in the corner of the room. The man had been so incredibly quiet that none of the brothers had even noticed him in the room. 

Just then, an alarm went off. The brothers stayed silent and still, not moving until the saw how the humans below would react.  
Karai was the first to speak. "This is the fire alarm, maybe they picked up someone's scent. Master, what are your orders?"  
"Take that shivering noodle in the corner and bring him with us. We'll use this as an attempt for our mutants to test their skills, see if there's any we shouldn't even worry about and should just get rid of now. Hun, Tatsu, advise your men to observe and report back to me what they can of the mutants skills afterwards. Meet with the rest of us at the main base, this is not our time to fight, we must prepare for a more serious future battle." 

After they saw the humans leave the room, the three brothers scurried through the vents, trying to get to the upper level nearest to the roof of the building as quickly as they could. The vents were roomy enough to crawl through, but they were horrible for quick getaways, so when Donnie noticed that all the soldiers were running downstairs, he waited until they found a clear spot where no one was in sight and he kicked the vent cover in the wall. The other two brothers followed him as they all ran around the 13th floor looking for a staircase.  
"Is he keeping an eye on us? What did he mean by 'this is an attempt for our mutants to test their skills'?" Raph asked as they ran.  
"And what did he mean by 'our human soldiers AS WELL'?" Leo asked.  
"If my fears are correct, Shredder has been using the stolen animals from the zoo and the pet shops to create his own-" 

Donnie was cut off as he had collided with someone. He winced, and as he opened his eyes again he noticed that Leo had also collided with someone as all three of them had rounded a corner in the hallway. He reached for his bo staff as his brothers also reached for their weapons. Once they all saw who was facing them they slowly lowered their weapons, and their jaws followed. Each of them feeling a bit pissed as they saw the also jaw dropped faces of Sam and Mikey. 

***Everyone's POV*  
**

"I KNEW IT!" Raph shouted.  
"Why? Just why?!" Leo asked in annoyance.  
"We totally haven't been doing this for weeks!" Mikey stated with wide eyes.  
Sam rolled hers and turned towards Mikey. "Okay so remember what we talked about how in certain situations I do the talking and you stand there and look pretty? This is one of those situations" she said giving her friend an annoyed smile.  
"Hehe, my bad" he said as he slowly backed away.  
"Why are you even here?" Leo asked furiously.  
"Sam pin pointed this as the newest and most visited Foot hideout, so we came to sneak around and gather any information and we did Leo you'll never believe this-"  
"Shredder is creating a mutant army with the stolen animals" Donnie cut in.  
"Wait, how did you-?"  
"We had the same idea Mikey, that's why we're here. We all probably heard the same meeting a matter of minutes ago before you two set the alarm off."  
"See I knew this would happen! Look at the influence they have on each other, and now it's risked getting us all hurt or killed!" Raph said as he roared with frustration.  
Sam went to speak, but was cut off just as she opened her mouth.  
"HEY! I've been right behind her the entire time, and I know that she hasn't done anything to set these alarms off! Don't go blaming this on us!" Mikey said, defending his best friend.  
"Then how else did we all get caught? None of us did anything!" Raph responded.  
"Scent" Sam and Donnie groaned.  
All eyes were on the two nerds of the group.  
"Karai mentioned that at the meeting. I'm sure some of the mutant animals probably have a heightened sense of smell."  
"Ahhh! I should have thought of that, but I got distracted as soon as we saw the professor again" Sam groaned in defeat.  
Donnie squinted his eyes and looked over at her. "What do you mean again?"  
**"**Yup it's best when you do the talking Sam" Mikey said sarcastically, followed by Sam glaring at him.**  
**"WHY?!" Leo shouted.  
Sam slowly turned back towards the eldest brother, giving him a nervous smile. "Heyyy. So, how about we talk later when there aren't alarms-"  
"How long has this been going on?" Leo asked, demanding an answer.  
Sam looked at the ground as she answered. "A few weeks now."  
"We finally begin trusting you and this is what you do? And YOU!" he shouted as he glared and pointed his finger at Mikey, "what the hell do you think you're doing? You know better than to agree or even suggest sneaking around FOOT HEADQUARTERS without the rest of us! Do you ever think before you make these decisions? And YOU!" he shouted as he now faced and pointed at a startled Sam, "I let you into our home to PREVENT THIS SHIT! I said you could visit the lair whenever you wanted so that you two wouldn't have to sneak around like how you used to, and yet you STILL continue to lie to me and go behind my back and do things that can put not only you, but all of my family in danger!"  
"Well if you'd stop treating me like an outsider Jay, but nooo-" Sam mumbled.  
"What did you call me?" Leo asked in confusion. All four brothers look at her, confused at what she had just said.  
She stopped for a second, processing what she just said. "Leo, I called you Leo."  
"No you didn't" Raph growled.  
"Might as well call you Nick" she mumbled.  
"What are you getting at?" Raph shouted as he rushed towards Sam. Sam went to rush towards him as well, but she was pulled back by Mikey, just as Raph was pulled back by Donnie and Leo.  
"What did you mean by that? Treated as an outsider" Leo asked as he continued to glare at Sam.  
"Even now you guys are still on edge when you talk to me, so there's no way you would let me go out and fight with you guys!"  
"In case you didn't notice, you're a regular human being with a normal life! You're not like us!"  
"Normal life?!" she exclaimed in an angry and hysterical tone. "You don't know shit oh fearless leader!" she mocked.  
"You're right, it must be crazy since you're at the lair all the damn time now!"  
"How about you get to know my fist then?"  
"HEY!" Mikey cut in as he pushed Sam back some. Instantly her face softened and she was calm as she now faced Michelangelo. "Your families broken up, I get that, but you're taking your anger out on the wrong person."  
She processed his words and nodded in response. "You're right" she said as she pursed her lips. 

She took a step forward so that she could apologize to Leo, but just then Donnie shouted 'duck!'  
Everyone ducked down until Donnie signaled that they were safe.  
"I just saw four giant frogs walk by, and they didn't look friendly. They'll be walking in the same direction that we're heading shortly."  
"You need to hide" Leo said as he faced Sam.  
"What!? No way!"  
"Go now, or I'll kick your butt" Raph said with an angry smile.  
"Challenge accepted" she replied, displaying a similar expression.  
"Sam," Mikey cut in, "that's like fighting one of us head on, and if they somehow gang up on you, that's like you versing all of us at once" he said in a concerned tone of voice.  
She paused and focused on his worried expression, and then took her friends concern into consideration. "Fine" she said with a defeated frown.  
Mikey gave her a small smile and put his fist out in front of him.  
Sam paused. "You're not gonna say it?"  
"I can't" he said as he nodded his head back towards Raph.  
"Right, got'cha" she said with a smile as she participated in the fist bump.  
"They're heading towards that open space down the hall, we need to go" Donnie informed.  
Sam looked above her and noticed another vent. She pulled a kunai knife from her back pack and took a few steps back. She then ran forward, jumped forward so that she could re-direct herself using the wall, and then aimed her knife upward so that it dug into the vent cover, and as she came back down she yanked the cover from the ceiling.  
"Is this a good enough hiding spot?" she asked dully as she faced Leo.  
"No, the safest hiding spot is at home, since you're leaving."  
"But-"  
"Since you're leaving" Mikey said with a smile. As much as he loved the crime fighting duo he had formed with Sam, her safety was always his first and main concern, and he thought that even with her continuously improving skills that this fight was too much for her.  
"Since I'm leaving" Sam mocked as she repeated the previous steps, allowing her to climb up into the vent. 

After Leo saw her crawl away, he heard a voice call out and say "Hey Rasputin, Genghis, Napoleon! I finally found them!"  
"Nice Attilla!"  
All four turtles looked forward and saw four giant mutant frogs from way across the room. There was a large open space between the two groups of four that seemed to be a training space based on all the mats and various types of equipment lined along the walls.  
"Alright guys, pick a frog, do your best to knock him out, and then we're out of here!"  
"This will be fun" Raph said with an evil grin, and then both groups of four were charging towards each other. 

Leo ran over and started fighting a frog who was a bright yellow-green color who was holding an axe. The frog's axe clashed with Leo's katanas, both putting all their strength into each swing that they took. 

Raph ran over towards a frog who was a forest green color and held a flail with a spiked ball at the end. The frog swiftly tried swinging the spiked ball around to hit Raph, but Raph was quicker than the frog and dodged every attack. Eventually Raph was able to hook both his sais through the chains of the flail, but when both he and the frog pulled back on their weapons, it pulled both their weapons out of their hands. After this, the two resorted to hand to hand combat. 

Donnie ran over to dark green colored frog who held a bow and arrows. The frog had good aim, but Donnie was always quick enough to move away from where the arrows were being launched. The two would fight close up every time Donnie got closer, the frog using his bow to defend attacks from Donnie's bo staff, and then the frog would try to retreat some so that he could launch more arrows. The two repeated this for a while. 

Mikey ran up to a frog who was a light green color who held a whip. Both were very quick on their feet and used rapid arm movements when using their weapons as well. Every time the frog cracked his whip, Mikey was always right on time to block the attack with his nun chucks. 

Sam hated watching from the vents. She could see that the turtles weren't struggling, but they weren't winning either. Each turtle's strength and speed was evenly matched with their frog counterpart. She wasn't sure how long the frogs had been training with these weapons, but whatever the length of time had been, they must have exceled rapidly. Sam wanted to run down there and help fight. The only way the turtles could win without completely draining themselves was if someone or something helped aide them in their fight, and that's exactly what she was going to do. 

**Themes:  
One Ok Rock-Start Again  
One Ok Rock-I Was King  
Yellowcard-Only One  
**

Sam observed each fight, wondering what the most strategic thing to do was. She knew she needed to help aide one fight, but which one? The frog with the arrows was the biggest of the four, but Donnie seemed to be holding his own against him. The frogs with the axe and the flail were both very muscular, but again, Raph and Leo were doing fine in defending themselves. Mikey was also doing a good job in defending himself, but his frog opponent with the whip was the thinnest of the frogs, so Sam decided that she would help take him out so that Mikey could go help his other brothers.  
She moved back towards the vent opening and jumped down. She grabbed one of her tonfa from her back pack.  
All the groups were distracted, and Mikey and the frog with the whip were the furthest from where she was standing.  
_"Perfect, that's enough distance for me to pick up enough speed and launch myself towards him"_ Sam thought to herself.  
She then sprinted forward running toward the frog as she faced his back. She then leaped and swung the tonfa around his neck, grabbing onto it with both hands and pulling back on it while her feet were planted on his lower back. Mikey wasn't sure what to do, since one wrong swing and he could accidentally hit Sam instead of the frog. The frog pulled at his neck, unable to loosen the tonfa that was crushing his throat. He then turned around and rushed backwards towards the wall in hopes to smash the girl against it, but just as he got close to the wall, Sam swung herself around to the side of his body. The frog crashed his back into the wall as he cried out in pain. Mikey then ran up and punched the frog in the face, landing a solid hit. The frogs nose began to bleed some as he came crashing down to the ground.  
"NAPOLEON!" the one frog yelled, only to then be hit by Raph. 

Just then, a group of about ten Foot soldiers came running through the opening that Sam had just run through.  
"Sam you need to leave" Mikey said.  
"Whether you like it or not, I just gave you the upper hand a moment ago, and I can still do that."  
"Sam…"  
"It's okay, you've trained me for this" she said with a reassuring smile. "I'll lead as many of them as I can out of here and then I'll come back. You need to defeat these guys so that you can help your brothers."  
Mikey nodded, and the two charged forward. 

Using both of her tonfa to defend herself, Sam ran through and then past the group charging towards her. Just as she had hoped, five soldiers continued to run forward towards Mikey, and the other five turned around and chased after her. Sam darted through the hallways, trying to find anything that could help her. She couldn't find anything, and as much as it grossed it her out, she decided that the best thing would be to try and use her kunai and shuriken to try and slow down the soldiers. Every time she rounded a corner she would swiftly turn back and throw her knives at the soldiers, aiming for their knees. This way she would only be hurting the soldiers and they could later be collected by the police and rot their lives away in jail, rather than her having to actually kill anyone. 

She turned a corner and her knife landed in the man's thigh, resulting in him stumbling and no longer being able to run. She rounded another corner and did the same, landing a shuriken star right in the man's shin. She did this and then eventually circled back, punching her way through each fallen soldier. She stopped once she had punched and knocked out the last of the five soldiers. She then quickly dragged each of them next to each other, forming a small soldier pile so that they wouldn't get trampled if anyone happened to storm through the hallways. As she stood back up, she saw something run by further down the hallway in her peripheral vision. She quickly ran around the corner and saw that it was Donnie who had run down the hallway. She assumed that she would see the giant forest colored frog again, but this time Donnie was being chased by a gigantic alligator who was even taller than Donnie was, and buffer than any of the frogs. Sam could tell that this time Donnie was out matched just in size alone. _  
"Maybe that's why he's running down the halls with him chasing behind him, maybe he tried to lead him away from his brother's. How many other mutants are here then?" _Sam wondered to herself.  
Sam then looked over and saw that the elevator buttons had been smashed. Filled with curiosity, she used her strength to push open the doors and was shocked to see that the platform had crashed and fallen down to the bottom, and all the thick wires and chains that were used so that the elevators could travel from floor to floor had been cut. Sam then caught a glimpse of Donnie as he threw open the staircase door and sprinted up the stairs with the giant alligator right behind him. She didn't know how to describe it, but somehow she felt that it meant something that she just happened to noticed these details of the broken elevator right before she saw those two run up the staircase.  
She quickly rummaged through her back pack and found a thick lanyard cable, a harness with straps of nylon webbing, metal snap hooks, and a small metal ball with a small metal handle. As she pulled each item from her bag, she could hear the voices of Donatello and the alligator slowly getting closer and closer as she heard them through the now open elevator doors. She set everything up just like how Donnie had taught her. She lightly squeezed the metal ball, and it then opened up to reveal three suction cups. She then shoved the suction cupped side onto the wall parallel to the elevator and then quickly put the harness on around her chest. She then used the metal snap hooks and the thick lanyard to connect herself to the suction cupped platform which she used as an anchor platform.  
She carefully moved toward the opening of the elevator and looked up, trying to see what was going on. She gasped when she saw that somehow the alligator had literally grabbed Donnie by the face. No matter how much Donnie thrashed his arms and legs around, there was nothing he could do to prevent what was about to happen to him. Sam tried to hang back some so that she could be prepared for what came next. 

Suddenly, the alligator let go of the turtle he had been holding onto, and without warning, Donatello dropped downward from the 15th floor. Luckily, the alligator turned as soon as he had let go of the turtle, so he didn't see Sam lean forward and unexpectedly grab Donnie's arms.  
Once Donnie felt something grab him, he grabbed onto whatever or whoever it was as quickly as he could. He heard a groan come from above him, and he was shocked when he looked up and saw Sam fighting with all her might to hold onto him. He knew that his force from falling and then pulling down on her arms had to have hurt a ton, even with all the muscle she had gained in the past few weeks, so he tried to move carefully so that he could position his feet on the wall so it would be easier for her to help him up.  
All of sudden, Sam slipped and landed on her knees right where the edge of the floor was. She groaned out in pain, trying to keep as quiet as possible as to prevent the alligator from hearing her and coming back, as her knees dug into the edge of the floor while she herself was now leaning further down into the elevator shaft, her body falling forward as far as the thick lanyard would allow her to go.  
"Arghhhhh if anyone ever says anything about you being thin, punch them in the face for me for being so stupid!" she said in a harsh but "whispered-yell" way.  
Once Donatello got a solid grip on Sam's hands, he was able to place his feet on the side of the wall and tried jumping up some. Sam was then able to help pull him up some when he jumped, and Donnie was able to get his elbow up onto the edge where the elevator opening was. After this, it was much easier for them both to pull him up until both their bodies were back onto solid ground.  
"How…how did you know…to prep for that?" Donnie asked with staggered breaths, relieved to finally feel safe on solid ground again.  
"Honestly…I just had a strange feeling…when I saw you go up…the stairs" she replied while also trying to catch her breath. "Dude, you're physically lying to everyone. You're thin, but you're not light, AT ALL."  
He chuckled until he looked down and saw a small puddle of blood on the floor near where her knees were.  
"How are your knees?" he asked with concern.  
"They'll be fine" she said as she leaned forward some so that her knees were flat against the floor so that they couldn't be seen.  
"Sit still" Donnie instructed as he helped her sit back against the wall so that he could inspect her knees. He then reached for one of the many small packs scattered throughout the belts around his waist. He pulled out some Neosporin and some bandage wraps and placed them on the ground as he kneeled down and gently began tending to her wounds. He felt a wave of guilt rush over him as he began to patch up her scraped up knees.  
"Don't worry," she reassured him, "it looks worse than it is. The cut looks deep, but it doesn't seem like anything permanent or crucial and life threatening" she said with a smile.  
He made a small smile in return. He was just glad to see that she was okay and that the wound wasn't anything serious.  
"You literally saved my life back there, thanks."  
"No problem!" she said as she made the O.K. signal with her hands.  
This made Donnie a bit upset. "Is this all a game to you? If that cable had snapped than you could have been killed."  
Her expression softened. "Of course it's not. But life has thrown me some curve balls that now make me kind of live for this."  
"Risking your life?!"  
"Protecting those I care about" she said with sincerity.  
His expression softened as he wondered what she had experienced that made her want to live her life on edge. What had made her give up on living a normal life and want to live an adrenaline filled one instead where she didn't care if the final outcome could lead to her death? He snapped back to reality as he realized he was still putting bandage wraps on her knees. He finished after a few more seconds, put his supplies away, and stood up as he reached a hand out to her. "Do you think you can walk?"  
Sam took his hand and stood up, she gathered her materials as she spoke to him. "Oh no, walking is going to make this sting like a bitch. I need to run this pain off, that way I can rub it in both your older brothers' faces that I saved your life" she said as she started sprinting down the hallway.  
"Why do you need to rub it in their faces?" he asked as he quickly ran behind her.  
"Because they're the ones who still don't believe that I should be patrolling the city with you" she said as she ran up the stairs and through a hallway on the 14th floor. 

The two then ran across a balcony that led across the top of the open space where the fight had begun. Raph was the only one left of the four turtles still fighting in the open training space, but now it was he who was fighting the giant alligator, and it was obvious that he was having a hard time fighting on the offensive side. Sam quickly ran over top of where the two were fighting as she grabbed her skateboard rod from her back pack and extended it so that the full board was exposed. She leaped over the balcony ledge and she slammed her board against the back of the alligators head.  
He hunched over and grabbed the back of his head as it throbbed from the unexpected hit. While he was distracted, Raph then ran up and elbowed the gator in the stomach, and then shoved his wrist up, hitting the gator in the chin. Donnie then appeared and swung his bow behind the gators knees, making him fall down and bang his head hard on the ground.  
"He should be fine, I'm sure he'll be sore when he wakes up, but he's not going to die or experience any serious trauma" Donnie stated.  
"You're welcome!" Sam announced as she faced Raph.  
He glared at her. "You shouldn't be here…but that was a nice hit. Thanks."  
"Where are the others?" she asked as she looked around the room.  
"Mikey eventually helped me take down my guy since he was the largest, that's when that gator came in. Donnie led him away, and I was able to help Mikey take down the remaining frog guys. After that a crap ton more soldiers came back along with that gator. Mikey and Leo lead the soldiers away and I was left to take care of this guy."  
Donnie pulled out his shell cell and typed away. "Alright, they're both nearby. We need to move now and help them."  
Sam and Raph nodded as they followed Donnie as he led the way. 

They ran down a few hallways when suddenly Sam was grabbed and pulled into a room. She tried to flail her arms so that the attacker would lose their grip, but she soon realized that it was multiple arms that were grabbing her.  
"Tie her up and blindfold her ladies! Candy, Sprinkles, make sure that door is locked tight!"  
"Sam! SAM!" could be heard from the boys on the other side, but Sam couldn't do anything to contact them.  
"*click* Titian, Bramante, Hachiko, can you take care of these two?" A female voice asked into what sounded like a walkie talkie.  
"_Roger that_" replied the voice. "_Tokka and Dogpound are collecting Leatherhead, and Slash and Liz are heading towards the other two's location as well."  
_ Sam was then pulled and moved around. There were several voices talking at one time, so it was difficult for her to listen for anything that would let her know of her whereabouts, or if there was anything nearby that could help her escape. A few minutes later, Sam was tossed into a room. As soon as she stood up she yanked her blindfold off and reached for her weapons. Her eyes went wide as she saw who it was standing around her. Ten different female animals had her surrounded in the office space that Shredder had had his meeting in earlier. Each animal had a black t-shirt and black shorts on. Now that she thought of it, each of the mutants she had seen earlier all had black shorts on, so she assumed that this is what their uniform consisted of.  
She looked around at each of the animals. The group consisted of two female turtles who were green and another younger female turtle who was red and purple colored; two female foxes that were orange and another that was snow white; a female gecko that was blue with red spots, a female salamander that was a dark blue and purple color, a lioness who seemed to be the oldest of the group, and the most unique was a female cat with bright pink fur.  
"What do you want with me?" Sam said as she glared at all of them.  
The lioness stepped forward. "Names Sally Pride, thought you should know the name of the woman who's going to beat the shit out of you. You're here because you hurt some of our closest friends, so we're going to do the same to you."  
Sam smirked. "Well, you gotta go-" she then dropped one of tonfa as she grabbed the closest female, the young turtle, "through this one first."  
All the females growled and snarled as they raised their weapons, wanting to attack but knowing that doing so could harm their captive friend.  
Sam looked at all of them and then looked down at the girl she was holding. Sam gazed over the turtle and noticed that she seemed much younger than many of the other girls in the room.  
"How old are you?" she asked gently.  
"I'm not sure, but I know I'm one of the youngest" she replied in a similar tone.  
"DON'T ANSWER HER!" the salamander shouted.  
"You're a child, Shredder literally has a young child fighting for him" Sam stated. She released her grip on the girl and let her rush back over to her friends. "I can't do this, you're not the one I want to fight, and you are innocent in all of this." Sam then looked back over at the lioness. "I didn't mean to hurt your friends, I only did so because they hurt mine. But none of us should be fighting each other. I don't know what Shredder has done to you, but he's a murderer, he's the reason I learned to fight, so that I could defend myself in case he ever came back. Shredder stole everything from me, but it's not fair for me to take all that rage out on you. You were all kidnapped and forced into this, that's why our friends are fighting each other. I swear the four turtles I came here with are all good guys…but I understand if you don't believe me." Sam then dropped her weapons and dropped to her knees. "If it will make you that happy to beat me up for what I've done to your friends, then so be it. But before you do, please tell me why you're pink" she said as she looked over at the pink mutant cat.  
The cat chuckled. "A kid dropped his ice cream cone in my cage at the pet store, so when I was mutated, the pink ice cream on my fur altered how I look. I also smell like cotton candy 24/7. Everyone nick-names me ice cream kitty, but I decided for my designated name to be Sprinkles, Sprinks for short. I don't mind being called either though" she said with a big smile.  
Sam smiled back at her, glad to know that whatever had happened to these mutants, it didn't stop this one from smiling the way she did.  
Just then, the lioness lowered her arms, signaling for all the other females to lower their weapons. Sam looked at her with confusion written all over her face.  
Sally Pride walked over and kneeled in front of Sam.  
"Your eyes, the tone of your voice, they're both similar to those of mine and my friends throughout the weeks that we've been here. I can tell that Shredder has hurt you to. I won't harm you, but only if you promise to help us."  
"Only on one condition!"  
Sally tilted her head. "And that would be?"  
"I need you to tell me your names. I hate when I'm talking to people and I don't know who they are. I mean, I know Shredder and his soldiers kidnapped all of you, but I don't personally know any of you yet."  
Sally nodded her head and smiled. She found this human to be quite interesting. "Alright, like I said, I'm Sally Pride." She then pointed to the next person behind her on her left.  
"Well, I'm ice cream kitty, aka Sprinks" the cat stated.  
Next was the white fox. "Names Alopex" she said seriously.  
"Mona Lisa" claimed the blue and purple salamander in a similar tone.  
"Hey, I'm Candy!" exclaimed the blue and red gecko.  
"I'm Venus", "and I'm Victoria" the two green female turtles stated, the latter looking a bit younger than the first.  
"I'm Umeko! The younger sister!" exclaimed the younger looking of the two foxes. Her fur was more of a light orange brown.  
"I'm Ninjara, her older sister" stated the older looking of the two foxes in a more serious tone. Her fur was more of a darker brown.  
"And I'm Chompy!" exclaimed the turtle, the youngest looking of them all.  
Besides for Sally who seemed to be a bit older, they all seemed like they were teenagers, Chompy being the youngest. Sam guessed that maybe she was about 13.

"I'm Samantha, but please call me Sam. Tell me what you need me to do and I'll do everything in my power to make them happen."  
Sally then took charge once again. "On the 12th floor is a laboratory. In there is a last resort security system. If you can hack into it, it will set off a smoke system that is set up throughout the entire building. The toxin isn't deadly, but it will paralyze anyone in the building for a following 24 hours. The chemicals used to make the toxin allow it to stay in the building for a full hour before fully dispersing and losing its effect. With that amount of time, we can all try to escape, and then we won't have to feel pain or inflict it on anyone ever again."  
"Wait, I'm sure Shredder planted some sort of tracking device into all of your bodies, how will you take care of that?"  
"That alligator you helped knock out earlier, his name is Leatherhead. He's a genius and even told me that if he got a hold of the device that was used to put the trackers into our skin, then he could get them out. He just needs to be somewhere without security cameras."  
"Sorry about that, what we did to your friend…" Sam replied.  
Sally put a hand on Sam's shoulder. "I understand now that you didn't mean to do it, and I'm sorry that you had to see him that way. He's one of the sweetest people I've ever met, but Shredder is able to mess with his mind and make him go berserk."  
"We're going to put an end to that" Sam reassured. "Is there anything I can say to your companions so that they know to leave the building and to stop hurting my friends?"  
"Tell them that it's Mutanimals orders. Hopefully that should calm them down."  
"Understood. Let's do this!"  
All the girls in the room nodded with huge smiles on their faces, hoping that maybe this was the day they could all make their escape. 

All of the girls scattered and ran down different hallways, looking for the other Mutanimals so that they could inform them of their current plan.  
Sam ran from hallway to hallway until in a hallway on the 11th floor she spotted all four of her turtle friends surrounded by a variety of larger mutants. There was a large and muscular adult Akita Inu male dog, a large red and purple colored female turtle, a green male and then a green female turtle, and the final mutant was Leatherhead, the giant alligator from earlier. These larger mutants had the turtles held up in corner of the hallway.  
Sam then felt two set of hands grab each of her arms. "Look Titian, we found the final one!"  
"Good job Bramante!" The two were both teenage looking male turtles.  
"Let me go!" Sam shouted.  
Mikey then heard the shouts from his best friend, and without thinking tried to run over towards her.  
"SAM!" but that fast he was grabbed by the throat of the large male turtle and shoved against the wall.  
"Stop it! MUTANIMALS ORDERS!" Sam shouted. 

All the foreign mutants stopped and looked at her.  
"What did you say?" the alligator asked.  
"You're Leatherhead right? Sally said you're one of the sweetest guys she's ever met, then prove it."  
The gator paused, and motioned for everyone to back off some. Mikey shoved through the large turtles grasp once it was loosened and he rushed over to Sam. "What happened? What did they do to you? Did they do that?!" he exclaimed as he looked at her knees.  
"Ummm yes and no, but that's not the point! Look, we're all on the same side."  
"What?!" Donnie exclaimed. "Did you not see that one GRAB ME BY THE FACE?!"  
"It's not his fault. Shredder has all these guys brainwashed to do whatever her wants them to. But if we can get to the next floor up, there's a smoke system we can hack into and let them all go free."  
"She's telling the truth!" came a voice from down the hall. A young orange and white Akita Inu mutant dog appeared from a stair well. "I just got word from Sprinks, they're on our side, and we're all on the same side now!" 

All the foreign mutants backed off and started running down towards where the mutant dog was standing.  
The gator faced the turtles. "I'm sorry for the harm I have caused you all, I assure you I didn't do it on my own free will. If you all help us in escaping, I promise you we will all find a way to pay you back somehow."  
Leo was confused, but things seemed much more peaceful now, so he decided to roll with it.  
"Right…Sam. Explain what's going on."  
"I'll explain as we go, you coming with us?" she asked the gator.  
He shook his head. "I already have the device I need hidden somewhere else. This is where we say goodbye, for now at least. Thank you again" he said as he ran off in the same direction as the other mutants.  
Sam looked at the turtles who were all looking at her quizzically. "Don't worry, I'll explain as we go." 

The turtles followed Sam to the laboratory on the 12th floor as she explained what had happened after she was kidnapped. The turtles were still a bit on edge, since they had yet to see even a smile from any of the mutants that they had met so far, but instantly the foreign mutants had all backed off once Sam had joined back up with them, so for the time being they decided that it was best to roll along with this plan.  
Luckily by this time, most to all of the Foot soldiers had left the building, so reaching the lab was a piece of cake, and Sam and Donnie were able to quickly tamper with and set a timer so that within ten minutes the smoke system would go off.  
"I don't get it, if no one is even here, why are we setting off this system?" Raph asked while keeping a lookout."  
"One, in case there's anyone hiding and trying to plan a surprise attack anywhere throughout the building. Two, because then no one can come back and try to track the Mutanimals. They'll have more time for their escape this way" Donnie replied.  
"And why are we trying to help them? They did nothing but fight us!"  
"Because they were forced to do so, and one of them looks even younger than you guys" Sam replied.  
Raph remained silent as he let her comments sink in. He let his anger subside so that he could focus on the facts rather than his anger. He knew that Shredder was a messed up human being and Raph didn't even want to think of what the other mutants had gone through while being here. He calmed himself and nodded at Sam's words, realizing that the Mutanimals weren't his enemy, Shredder was, and helping the others escape would really mess with Shredder's plans of creating a mutant army. 

Once Donnie and Sam got the system set up, they all had about ten minutes until the smoke system would go off. They dashed to the roof and reached their destination with an extra five minutes left to escape from the rooftop. Usually this wouldn't be a big deal, but the turtles weren't sure how they were going to escape now that Sam was with them. The brothers had been practicing escape exercises on multiple different buildings throughout the city so that they could be prepared for any situation where they needed to make a quick getaway, but this also involved them using all of their body when coming in for a landing. They would slide down buildings on their backs and would even use their shells to protect them if they needed to crash through anything hard or sharp. Also, depending on how they would land, sometimes it was safest for them to roll or slide when making the landing, and none of this could be done if one of the turtles needed to carry Sam. The original plan was to make their way over to the parking garage that was located to the right of the building, but it was too great of a distance this time. If the turtles needed to climb or just leap over or even down, say into a sewer opening down below, then it wouldn't be such a big deal to carry Sam, but this time was different.  
As they all reached the top of the roof, Leo began to worry.  
"Hey, you're heading that way, right?" Sam asked as she pointed towards the garage.  
Leo nodded. "Yeah, but I don't know how we're going to get everyone over there."  
"I can swing each of us over there, but I don't know how to get Sam over there safely. The garage only has ten floors whereas this building has fifteen, so I'm not sure how to safely get us all over there together" Donnie thought aloud.  
None of the turtles noticed that Sam and Mikey had backed up some and were whispering to each other.  
"Alright just like we've practiced. You aim for the highest object you can hook onto, so that rail right there" he said as he pointed down to the top of the parking garage where there was a handrail along the ledge of the top of the building, "and hook onto that as you board down. Keep a wide distance though so that you have enough room to swing in. You think you can handle this?" Mikey asked, a mix of excitement and worry in his voice.  
"Don't worry, I got this. Like you said, I've practiced this tons of times."  
"More like three times, but you landed everything perfectly when you did this at the other locations, so hopefully everything will be okay." He didn't realize his hand was shaking as he spoke, but Sam did.  
She nudged him and gave him a playful smile. "Hey, I'm the adrenaline junky, remember? This is what I'm good at, and this stunt is just something else I'll be able to add to my resume."  
"Guys, only two minutes left!" Donnie called out.  
"Whelp, see you on the other side" Sam said as she ran forward.  
Raph, Leo and Donnie instantly picked up on this as their eyes widened.  
"Wait wait wait!"  
"Sam no!"  
"Stop!"  
But Sam had already leaped off the ledge of the building. The three boy's jaws dropped as they wanted to look away, but at the same time they prayed that she would somehow magically land safely on the building down below. None of them (except for Mikey of course) expected to see what they saw.  
Before Sam had made her leap, she had placed a grappling hook gun that she had retrieved from her backpack into her right hand, and she had pulled out her skateboard rod and held that in her left hand. Right after she had made her leap, Sam extended her board and brought it to her feet, which set off the rockets and allowed her to gain better control of where she went as she fell down. Soon after, she aimed and shot the hook from the grappling gun at the handrail and was able to hook it onto the rail. Once she fell far enough down, the pull from the hook and rope forced her to swing inwards, releasing the hook and quickly bringing it back to the gun as Sam then used her board to guide her body into the opening of the 8th of 10 floors of the parking garage.  
"Alright she's in! Let's go!" Leo called out.  
Donnie stood on the ledge of the taller building. First he used his bo staff to help swing Leo and then Raph towards the direction they needed to go. After Raph had gone, Mikey then ran forward and jumped off the ledge onto his skateboard with Donnie jumping behind him. Donnie accelerated downward quickly so that Mikey could then swing him towards the direction they needed to go. Leo and Raph had fallen and grabbed onto the handrail, and then Donnie and Mikey caught up with them seconds later. They all then carefully lowered themselves down two more floors until they were able to swing themselves into the opening of the 8th floor of the parking garage. There, they found a calm and collected Sam who was leaning against one of the pillars nearest to where they had all swung into the room.  
"Took you guys long enough."  
"Heh, hey Don, looks like we found that grappling gun you've been looking for" Raph teased mockingly as he lightly nudged his brothers arm.  
"Funny, I've been looking for it for a few weeks now" Donnie said as he crossed his arms and looked at Sam and Mikey sternly.  
"Oh, this? Mikey have you ever seen this before?" Sam asked Mikey, holding up the grappling gun.  
"This thing? Nahhh, never seen it before in my life"  
"Me either, wonder how it got here."  
"I don't know, life's crazy man."  
"Strange things happen, am I right?"  
"Totally, because I've never seen that thing before EVER!"  
"Same here, haha!"  
"Hahaha!"  
The two conversed quickly, but they could easily tell the remaining brother's didn't buy it at all.  
"Mikey" Leo said with a solid blank expression as he crossed his arms.  
"Yeah."  
"I'm gonna kick your ass when we get home."  
"IN MY DEFENSE!...Sam just saved all of us because she got those mutants to back down when we were cornered earlier!" Mikey announced.  
"He's right" Donnie agreed, hating the feel of defeat in knowing that Mikey's statement was  
true.  
"Doesn't hide the fact that you both have been sneaking around behind me and our families  
back" Leo said sternly as he glared at them both.  
"He's right" Donnie said, nodding his head matter of factly.  
"But us sneaking around is why she was able to escape and jump off that building" Mikey said confidently, proud that he was able to continue on in this argument-slash-heated discussion.  
"If you weren't sneaking around then we never would have been put in that situation in the first place!" Raph stated aggressively towards the youngest brother. "And one wrong move and you easily could have killed yourself" Raph said in an angry tone as he now faced Sam.  
"They're both right" Donnie said in a serious tone. "Not to mention that this means you BOTH broke code in stealing from my lab, AFTER I gave you permission to go in there so that you wouldn't have to sneak in anymore" Donnie said with pursed lips.  
"Heh, she broke Leo's rules on not sneaking around behind his back, what made you think she wouldn't break yours?" Raph stated in a vile tone.  
"Heyyyyy" Sam said, squinting her eyes at Raph after hearing his harsh words. "I didn't break Donnie's code! I signed the gun out!"  
"Yeah, around two weeks or so ago!" Donnie stated, eyes wide in his hysteria at the girl's reactions.  
"…I wasn't done with it" she replied as if she was sulking, though it was obvious she was just being silly. Honestly, she was trying to prevent herself from laughing at the way Donnie had just reacted. Unless he was super pissed, his exaggerated reactions were hilarious, and she could tell that he was frustrated but that he wasn't full on mad like when she had first met him.  
"I've still never seen it before" Mikey assured.  
"Oh get over yourself" Sam said as she jokingly shoved her friend, to which she was jokingly shoved back. 

The groups antics were cut off when suddenly, about thirty Foot soldiers came rushing up the roadway that led to the floor of the parking garage.  
"They've been waiting for us" Leo stated. "Alright guys, get ready for one last fight."  
All five of them got their weapons out and dispersed themselves amongst the group of soldiers. About twenty of the men were actual Foot soldiers, and the other ten were Purple Dragons members.  
Sam ran over and stood back to back with Donnie. "You got a smoke bomb of any kind?!" Sam shouted against the loudness of all the commotion from the fight.  
"Back pouch!" he said as he swung his bo and hit a soldier in the side, as he then brought it down onto the man's head, knocking him out.  
"Dude there's like five back pouches!" she said as she ducked, swung her foot by the leg of the soldier in front of her and knocked him off his balance as she then brought her knee up and kneed him in the back of the head.  
"Far right, my right!"  
Sam grabbed the pouch and ran and hid behind some parked cars. She noticed that the group of ten men had split up into five and were waiting to get better aims of the turtles while the ninjas were currently fighting them. She launched one of the smoke bombs over towards where the one group was setting up. Tons of coughs could be heard as the men were consumed by the thick smoke. As quickly as she could, Sam ran in and used her tonfa to fight the men and knock them out before they could even see her through the smoke. Everything went according to plan until one of them unpredictably pulled a small hand held bomb from their pocket. Sam knocked it out of the soldier's hand, but he had kept a grip on long enough for it to stay in his hand until he was at an angle where it was launched up into the air and hit the ceiling. The smoke was still so thick that Sam couldn't see which part of the ceiling had been hit and where the debris was going to fall. Suddenly, she felt someone shove her to the side. She slid out of the smoke, scrapping up her arms some since it wasn't a planned slide. She turned over to see what had happened and her eyes became glassy as she recognized Donatello laying on the ground with debris from the ceiling all around and on top of him. There were thick chunks of concrete all around and on top of his head.  
Sam was so focused on what she was staring at that she hadn't realized Leo had run over to her and had grabbed her arm and pulled her up.  
"Sam, he'll be fine. He's endured this before. Sam!"  
But Sam was so caught up in her thoughts that she couldn't hear a thing that Leo was saying. She was pissed at herself, at Shredder and his goons, at life for stealing yet another important person from her life. Sam's eyebrows slanted and squeezed together as she gritted her teeth together under closed lips and clenched her fists. Leo had never seen the girl this way, and he had a feeling he wouldn't be able to control her at this point, not while he also had to go back and help his brother's. Sam was so furious that she yanked her arm away from Leo and started walking back towards where Donnie was lying.  
"Sam! Dammit…" Leo growled as he turned back, knowing that he needed to help his brothers who were still fighting multiple Foot soldiers. 

**Theme:  
Bishop Briggs-River  
**

Sam walked forward towards Donnie's body. She heard footsteps quickly coming up behind her. She turned and ran towards the man following her. She quickly used her tonfa to push his arms up and knee him in the stomach as she then threw him over her shoulder. As she did this, she grabbed the handgun from the man's hands and then quickly turned towards the other four gunmen who were following the previous man. She quickly shot at all the men's knees as they stumbled to the floor. Two of them tried to shoot at her even while they were on the ground, to which Sam ran up and kicked the guns out of the two men's hands. She then saw two Foot soldiers running over towards Donnie. Sam was out of bullets, so she threw a couple of shuriken starts at them. This stopped them both long enough for her to dash over to them and start fighting them. Every punch they threw she deflected, and she waited for the perfect moment to attack. She finally got her chance when she used her tonfa to knock the weapons out of the hands of the man to her right. She then swung her left leg up as the soldier grabbed it, but before he could do anything, as he held her left leg (assuming he was deflecting an attack) Sam quickly twirled her body around so that her right leg swung up and her foot smacked him across the face. The soldier fell onto his companion and they both tumbled down. As the second man tried to stand back up, Sam karate kicked him in the face, and the man fell flat on his face and both stayed down permanently. 

"I TAUGHT HER ALL THAT!" Mikey exclaimed.  
Sam turned to see that the other three had taken care of all the other soldiers and that now all the current enemies had been knocked unconscious.  
"Ughhh…" came a voice from the debris pile.  
Sam turned around to see Donnie slowly trying to stand up. He had a few scrapes along his arms, but the main injury seemed to be a bloody nose.  
"Whoa man, take it easy" Raph said as he quickly walked over to his brother. He carefully helped stand Donnie up, letting his younger brother take his time until her was able to use his own strength and push off of Raph's arm and stand after catching his balance.  
"Thanks" Donnie said with a small smile as he reached into one of the many small pouches running down his chest and pulled out some tissues.  
"Any serious pain? Anything hit you the wrong way?" Leo asked with concern.  
"Heh, just the floor, ironically. Once I got Sam out of the way, I was so focused on shielding myself from falling debris that I hadn't done anything to block my face from the floor, so when the debris came crashing down I face planted hard. Besides that I think I'm good" he said as he stuck some tissues up his nostrils to help stop the bleeding.  
"As long as a headache or a nose bleed is the most pain you feel then you should be fine, at least that's how I was when this happened to me" Raph reassured.  
"Damnnnn Daniel! That was some nice hero work!" Mikey shouted as he walked over at pat his brother's shoulders.  
Donnie smiled at his brother's antics, but his expression died down as he realized why he was injured in the first place. "What happened to Sam?"

The four brothers turned around to see that Sam hadn't moved as she was staring at the floor in front of her. They didn't know it, but Sam was mentally cussing herself out. She was extremely grateful that Donnie was alright, but she hated herself for even putting him in that situation. For years Sam had always been able to defend and take care of herself, but this time she slipped up and she put her new friend in danger. She would never do it, but she wanted to bash her head against the wall for acting so carelessly. How was she supposed to face him after he had just risked his life for her? He could have died! She wouldn't be surprised if all the turtles hated her even more now, and she wouldn't blame them. If they all told her to disappear and to never cross paths with them again then she would have obeyed, she would do whatever she needed to in order for them to feel that their lives were safer, and if that meant her never getting to see the turtles again then so be it. Their safety and well-being meant more to her than anything else in the world, besides Jay's safety and well-being that is.  
Sam was so caught up in her thoughts that she hadn't realized Donnie had walked up and now stood in front of her.  
"Soooo this is the part where you say 'thanks for saving me from the falling debris that would have crushed me Donatello'," he said both comically yet also seriously.  
Sam just looked up and stared at him. "Your face is bleeding…" she said bluntly.  
"You're welcome Sam" he replied with raised eyebrows as he pursed his lips together in annoyance.  
"You got hurt because of me…" Sam said, her voice cracking a bit.  
As Donnie now noticed her glassy eyes, he realized why she hadn't apologized. It's not that she wasn't grateful for what he had done, it was because she didn't think she deserved to even speak to him. He could tell that she was mentally torturing herself with her thoughts.  
He smiled at her and pointed towards his nose. "This? This is nothing. Ever since Raph's incident last August when our first home was attacked, we train for things like this now."  
"HA" Raph stated sarcastically. "Just tell her the specific date and everything why don't'cha?"  
"It was a dark day, August 8th, 2013…" Donnie started, but was playfully cut off by Leo nudging his brother, the oldest and second youngest smiling the entire time.  
Sam smiled at this, which made Donnie cheer up as well. "Besides" he said as he turned back towards her, "I owed you from earlier" he said as he lightly nudged her shoulder.  
"Ahhh that's right. Thank you for being ten times stronger aka weighing weigh more than you look you would" Sam said as she smiled and nodded her head.  
And that was all the 'thanks' that Donnie needed. He knew that the comical changes in both her voice and facial expressions showed that she was back to normal, and this meant that even though she didn't exactly say 'thank you,' she already knew how important his actions had been, hence why she had been afraid to even talk to him. In an odd way, Donnie knew her well enough at this point to know that this change in emotion showed how thankful she truly was.  
"Alright, let's round all these guys up, I'm sure the cops will be here soon" Leo stated.  
The five of them moved all the soldiers into one big mosh pile of people. Once they were done they all began to walk down the roadway of the parking garage.  
"There's a manhole cover in the alley right behind the garage, we'll just use that one for today since the cops will probably be here soon and it will be easier to escape through the sewers rather than trying to find another roof top, since oddly this building is shorter than the others surrounding it" Donnie stated as he led the way out of the garage.  
"Hehe, so what's this about you getting picked up by that large gator?" Raph teased as he threw his arm around his brother's shoulder.  
"Please don't make me talk about it" Donnie groaned.  
"LAMEEEEEE! Come on, tell us!" Mikey chimed in.  
"What's so exciting about hearing me talk about getting grabbed by the face?"  
"It's not exciting, it just sounds hilarious" Raph mocked as Mikey laughed and Donnie rolled his eyes.  
"Alright I'll talk, after Mikey describes what it was like to be grabbed by the throat and then shoved against the wall" Donnie said as he smirked at his younger brother.  
"Okay if your experience was the same then I feel you bro! That scared the hell out of me!"  
"SEE! Not so funny, is it?"  
"Oh no, the throat is scary…but the face is still hilarious" Raph teased. 

As the younger three teased each other, Sam hung back to talk to Leo, away from the others. She laughed when she saw Leo smile and roll his eyes at his younger brothers.  
"Yup, definitely another Jay" she said with a smile.  
"What exactly does that mean again?"  
"That as much as you yell and scream at your younger siblings it just means that you actually really care about them, and even if you roll your eyes at them all the time, it's your way of showing you're happy that they're around, that's how my older brother Jay is."  
"Ahhhh got it, but why else would I yell at them?"  
"I dunno, to be an ass?" she teased.  
"Eh, maybe sometimes if they really annoy me. But the majority of the time, no. I'm not always an ass, at least not on purpose."  
"Huh, oldest brother like second oldest brother."  
"You called Raph an ass?" Leo asked in laughter.  
"Well, more so he called your brother one, and then I laughed at him for the fact that he could say that about someone else."  
"Which brother?"  
"Donnie, about rubbing it in at times that he's the tallest."  
"Oh yeah he does that a lot, but hey that's the payback Raph and Mikey get for teasing him all the time about being the thinnest" he chuckled. "I guess Nick is another one of your brothers?"  
"Yeah, he's the oldest of my blood siblings. He cared about all eight of us like crazy, but he could be a real hot head at times. He's the type who always has to have the last word and will mumble things under his breath and can never let the conversation die out even when everyone knows that it's time to juts let things go."  
"Ohhhh then Raph is definitely another Nick" he laughed.  
Sam laughed, imagining Raph and Nick fighting over something silly and how crazy it would be to see the two butt heads. Now that all earlier tensions had been dropped, Sam thought it was a good time to apologize for the argument the two had had earlier.  
"Sorry about sneaking around behind your back, I'm still getting used to this whole getting to know people and earning their trust kind of thing."  
"I'm the same way, we all are, well except Mikey. He's always been the most trusting and joyfully energetic of us four. Anyway, sorry if there's times where you still feel like an outsider. If it means anything, we're all used to seeing you around the lair now and it's pretty much become a part of all our daily routines now."  
"Thanks" Sam said as she failed at concealing her wide teeth bearing smile, "That means a lot."  
"Out of curiosity, why were you two so gung-ho to form a crime fighting duo anyway?"  
"Well, it's a long story-"  
"Broken family related?" he asked with sorrow in his voice as he faced her.  
She nodded. "Yeah, completely related to that. Basically, thanks to the cards life has dealt me, I haven't exactly grown up as a normal kid would, so I never really had close friends and got excited by things normal teens do. Everyone likes things like going to the mall and going on trips with their friends, stuff like that, but I haven't exactly been interested in those type of activities for a long time now. Because of how my life has played out, I'm more interested in adrenaline filled activities, something that has a purpose or something that will be life changing, if any of that makes sense. That's the best way I can really explain it."  
"Well, I can't relate to you about having a broken family, but I can relate to you on the whole 'my life has been dealt weird and unique playing cards, so I'm not interested in normal activities and would rather do something different than normal people' type situation. But there is a major difference in our situations though."  
"Let me guess, the whole you're a 6 ft. mutant turtle and I'm just a 5'5 human girl thing?" she said with a teasing smile.  
"As skilled as you are, there are still things that you can't handle. A perfect example being when Donnie pushed you out of the way of the falling solid concrete pieces. Being more muscular and also having tougher skin, the impact didn't hurt him as much, whereas that debris easily could have injured, or worse, it could have killed you."  
"Awww you sound so concerned" she mocked.  
"Well who else is going to teach me how to cook?" he said bluntly, though it was obviously known he was joking.  
"Ohh, so that's it. Gotta remember that the next time I meet someone who doesn't like me. If I teach them how to do more than just make themselves a bowl of cereal then they'll want me around."  
"Shut up" Leo said as he rolled his eyes and Sam laughed.  
"Well, I gotta say, I'm glad this was my final ninja mission, I think I kicked the most ass tonight than ever before" Sam said as she brushed her hands off her shoulders.  
Leo gave her a confused look. "What are you talking about?"  
"You're pissed that I brought Mikey here just the two of us, and I'm also the reason that Donnie got hurt, so I'm pretty sure you don't want me joining you guys anymore on missions like this. I totally understand though, I don't want to do anything that will continue to put you guys at risk of getting hurt."  
"Awwww you sound so concerned" Leo said, mocking what the girl had just recently said.  
She gave him an annoyed smile as she fake laughed at him. Leo smiled at the girl's playful expression.  
"In all honesty, you had our backs in ways I wasn't expecting. Heh, it's hard to believe Mikey could actually successfully train someone. But you had our backs back there, I can't deny that."  
Sam stopped and gave him a funny look. "Where is this going?"  
"I'm saying that if you listen to instructions, then maybe you can join us in training outside of the dojo. But you have to STOP GOING BEHIND OUR BACKS! And if you ever join us in another fight, you have to listen to us when we tell you to hide or whatever it is that we're telling you to do. It's not because we're trying to cast you out, it's because we're trying to help keep you safe."  
"Really?"  
"Of course we want you to be safe!"  
"Not that!" Sam replied as she rolled her eyes. "I meant 'really,' you'd let me go help save the city with you guys? Or are you saying that because 'you don't have any other choice?" she said in a mocking tone.  
Leo playfully glared at her. "You would remember that. Well, you stuck around long enough to the point where we don't really hate you anymore-"  
"What a great way to tell someone you care about them" she said with a wide teeth showing sarcastic smile.  
"AS I WAS SAYING, you've been hanging around all of us for a while now to the point where I feel like we could trust you during a fight, so as your brother I'm giving you a chance to fight with us if you're-"  
"What did you say?" Sam asked. Her face expressed a mix of shock and confusion combined into one.  
"I said I was your friend, why?" he answered, confusion written on his face as well.  
"No reason, go on" she said quickly.  
"…okay, I was saying that as your friend I'm giving you a chance to fight alongside us as long as you're willing to listen to directions when it comes to safety precautions, since as much as you want to fight like us, there's things you can't do because you're not us."  
"Not like you guys…" Sam instantly went into deep thought, all the wheels in her head turning.  
"What are you thinking?" Leo groaned.  
"Definitely not something that will help me fight like you guys" she said, her words and expression full of sarcasm.  
By this time, the two were now rounding the corner of the entrance of the garage on the ground floor. They started walking towards the back alley when Mikey came running up to them.  
"SAM! Donnie was able to download an early cut of Guardians of the Galaxy!"  
"Donnie's got footage of my boy Groot?"  
"He has footage of all the galaxy saving misfits. ALL. OF. THEM."  
"LEAD ME TO THE NEAREST T.V.!"

The two then lifted the man-hole cover, jumped down into the sewers, and rode their boards all the way back to the lair, while the other three brothers took their time and walked back. While Sam rode back to the lair, she kept thinking of Leo's words that continued to linger on her mind. Even though he accidentally called himself her brother, she had a feeling that that was how he was truly beginning to see himself since he was always complaining when she and Mikey did something that he deemed unsafe. She thought back to how they all had treated her that night and how each of them displayed various different traits that reminded her of Chuck, Nick, Brian and Jay. She then thought of how Splinter displayed many traits that her parents and older siblings used to, and how April also displayed many traits that were similar to those of her mother and her older sisters: Haley, Amber, and Jamie. For the first time in a long time, it felt like a large part of her life had been given back to her, and she felt truly happy to feel like her family had come back and joined her in her daily life once again. Obviously this situation was still very different from how her life used to be, but she loved what her life had recently turned into, and she prayed that nothing would ever change. 


	18. Chapter 18

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.**

**Also, to the guest who commented on me not disappearing and all, don't worry. Sadly some weeks it takes me a bit longer than others to complete and submit chapters, but I don't plan on permanently disappearing. I'm taking my own personal break from my schooling this semester and the summer is coming up soon, so I hope to get as much typed up as I possibly can, and even when school starts I'm not giving up on this story, but sadly it might take me longer to get chapters uploaded. But I still have so much written down and planned out for this story, so don't worry, I'm not going anywhere **

Chapter #16

***The next night, Friday June 13****th***** **

"Whoa! What was that?!" Mikey shouted.  
"I don't know, it looks like a metal tiger, but man that thing is creepy" Sam said as she looked up at the t.v. screen for a few seconds before looking back down at her notepad.  
The two were sitting on the couch together. While Mikey was breaking in his new copy of Wolfenstein the New Order, Sam was sketching and jotting down notes and ideas about a new device that she wanted to work on.  
"According to Fergus it's called a Hell Beast. Why aren't you playing again?" he asked while still facing the screen, absorbed in the game.  
"Because I'm distracted."  
"Aren't video games supposed to be the distraction?"  
"Usually yes, but my mind is already wrapped up in something else, and once I reach a certain level of progress, then I can play. It's like my own mental homework" she said with a smile.  
"So what's the assignment teach?"  
"To find a way to be as strong as you guys without actually being as strong as you guys."  
"Can you explain that in English?"  
"I'll try" she said with a laugh. "Obviously I can never actually be as physically strong as you and your brothers. Even if I became one of those super female body builders, there's certain things that you guys both as mutants and as turtles can withstand that I as a regular human being cannot. Exhibit A. being what happened the other night."  
"You mean when Donnie totally saved your ass?" he teased.  
"Psh, of course everyone saw him save me, but no one was around when I saved him. But yes I'm talking about that situation."  
"How are your knees?" he asked, actually peeling his face away from the screen to show his concern.  
"Don't worry, it's nothing more than some cuts and bruises" she reassured.  
Mikey smiled and went back to playing his game.  
"Anyway," Sam continued, "the point is, there's nothing that I alone as a human being can do to obtain the same skills that you guys have, but if I'm successful in building this device, then maybe I can be a little more helpful than before."  
"But you're already helpful" he said with sincerity, and out of the corner of his eye he could see a smile creeping up on his friend's face.  
"Thanks, but there's always room for improvement."  
"So what exactly is this new device?"  
"Pause the game and I'll show you."  
Mikey paused the game and leaned over to look at his friend's notepad. "A glove? That's it?"  
"Not just any type of glove" Sam said as she rolled her eyes, "it would be electronic. If I can create a perfect design and can find the right materials, I can use a tube within the glove to produce huge gusts of wind that could deflect or even move objects."  
"Dude, that sounds awesome! But how would that even work?" Mikey asked in excitement.  
"Well, I would need some strong metal to form the sleeve, and I'd have to find a way to make it powerful enough to work. I might be able to program something more so with the wiring that if I throw a punch the battery then intensifies how much wind is pushed forward. I'd have to play around with different concepts to see what would and wouldn't work."  
"I guess you'll be really busy then…" Mikey pouted.  
"Yeah and so will you" she responded, her face back in her notebook.  
"What?" he asked as he faced her, shock exposed in his expression.  
"Well I'm already working with you on fixing up our underground spaces, and I'm helping Donnie with the med wing and with the truck AND he's helping me with the other vehicle that we don't name out loud so the secret isn't exposed. Basically I have a ton of projects that I'm already working on, so I'm going to need my best friend to help me out so that I can get this job done quicker" she said as she put her fist out for a fist bump.  
Mikey returned the gesture with a huge smile forming on his face. He loved that no matter what Sam did, she always found a way to include him IF he was interested, which the majority of the time he was since everything Sam did was usually either super cool or super fun. It was more so the things she did with his other brothers, like working out with Raph or meditating with Leo, where they went their separate ways for a bit and then eventually met back up to hangout again later. He really enjoyed the friendship they had formed over the past few months and not once did he ever regret meeting back up with her the night that they first hung out back in April.

The two stayed the way they were on the couch for a while longer before Raph and Leo came over and joined them on the couch.  
"Alright Mikey, save your game now or I'm pulling the plug" Raph stated.  
"Aww c'mon bro! It's up to me whether Fergus or Wyatt dies right now!"  
"5 minutes!"  
"Okay, okay, okay!"  
Sam chuckled and looked up at Raph. "Why the rush?"  
"The Knicks game is gonna be on t.v. soon and I'm not missing it. We missed the last game because there was a call on the police scanner about a robbery and we had to go take care of the huge group of idiots who decided to rob stores in the mall."  
Sam gave him a confused look. "Wait, so you guys watch the game here?"  
Raph and Leo gave each other a funny look. "Yeah…why?" Leo asked.  
"I just assumed you guys watched from a cooler spot, you know, being ninjas in the shadows and all" she teased.  
Leo narrowed his eyes at her. "Please, enlighten us as to where a much cooler spot would be."  
"Ohhhh the super totally awesome cool spot? You're talking about THAT spot, right?" Mikey asked.  
"That one" she replied as she snapped and pointed her fingers at him.  
Mikey had finished saving his spot in the game and stood up once he got everything settled. "Leo we should totally go to Sam's spot! It's way better than watching the game on the couch I swear!"  
Leo looked back at Raph. The two shrugged at each other and looked back at Mikey.  
"Eh, why not" said Leo.  
"Seriously?" Sam asked in surprise.  
"Well, we do kind of owe you a thanks for saving our younger brother yesterday" Leo said.  
"Heh, but you can go have the fun of breaking him away from his nerd lab" Raph teased.  
"Psh, that's easy." Sam walked over towards Donnie's lab and within thirty seconds he was walking through the door and over towards his brothers.  
"Hey guys, where we going?"  
The eldest two brothers both threw their hands up.  
"Aw come on!" Raph shouted.  
"How'd you do that?" Leo asked loudly.  
"I got connections to modern technology thanks to my brother and his nerd friends" Sam said as she gave the boy's two thumbs up.  
"Figures" they both mumbled under their breath.  
"Guys the game starts soon so let's gooooooooo!" Mikey shouted halfway down the hallway through the lair exit nearest to the t.v.  
"Um, we're going to the Knick's game?" Donnie asked in confusion.  
"Apparently Sam knows of this 'super totally awesome cool' spot" Raph said, mocking how his youngest brother made it sound.  
Mikey heard all of this of course, even though he was standing so far away. "You can mock me all you want but you're going to flip when you see it!"  
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." 

The group then followed Sam as they left through the exit of the lair that was closest to the t.v. and the rest of the living room area. While they all talked and joked around as they walked throughout different pathways of the sewers, Donnie was curious as to where Sam was leading all of them, so he used a small handheld GPS system to track where they were as they all walked and talked. Once they arrived at their destination, Donnie decided it was time to speak up.  
"Okay, I'm not heading any further until I get an explanation."  
Sam turned towards him and gave him a fake smile. "What's the problem now?"  
"Do you realize where we are?"  
"Yeah."  
"Where are we?"  
"Close to Madison Square Garden's Arena" she said with an innocent smile.  
"Yay!" Mikey cheered.  
"No not yay," Leo cut in, "you know we can't go the actual arena."  
"Dude, where else can you get a better view of the game than from the actual arena?" Mikey asked.  
"I assumed maybe there was a place where they broadcasted the game on a larger screen, like near a park or something where we could still hide."  
"If you would trust me then you'd know that you can still hide at the spot that I'm taking you to" Sam stated as she rolled her eyes. "I'm not stupid, I wouldn't bring you guys here if you wouldn't be able to hide and stay unseen."  
Raph sighed. "We're trusting you on this one kid, so don't screw it up" he said as he flicked her forehead.  
She stood there and pursed her lips together. "Gee Raph, I've never heard words of encouragement quite like yours."  
"Let's go!" he shouted.  
"Okay, so here are the ground rules. When you reach the surface, move quickly and whoeverreachesthetopfirstwins!" she shouted with one breath as she swiftly pulled her board out, Mikey doing the same with his board, and the two rocketed off towards the surface. Mikey pushed open the manhole cover and within seconds the two were out of sight.  
"*sigh* why did we agree to go with them again?" Raph asked.  
"Because we're proving we trust her…and we owe her for helping save Donnie" Leo muttered under his breath as he started climbing up the ladder to the surface.  
"Ahh, so this is all Donnie's fault. You just needed to be saved, didn't you?" Raph teased as he followed his brother up to the surface.  
"HE GRABBED ME BY THE FACE! So yes I needed saving!" Donnie called out as he then climbed up.  
When the three got to the surface, they realized they were in an alley behind a tall apartment building. They each quickly swung themselves up higher and higher along the railways along the side of the building.  
Sam and Mikey were standing there, pretending to look bored.  
"Took you long enough" Mikey mocked as Sam nodded beside him.  
Leo looked around and saw that they were on top of an apartment building that was a bit taller and wasn't that far away in distance from the top of the arena. He then paused as he realized that the distance didn't seem that far away FOR HIM to run and leap onto the arena's roof, but there's no way that Sam could have made that jump, even for her.  
"Don't worry Fearless, I only recently started sneaking in this way" she said.  
"Wait, how did you know-"  
"There's this thing called facial expressions, and yours are extremely obvious and totally give away what you're thinking" she smirked.  
"So what was your old method?"  
"Fake I.D.'s that said I was backstage staff."  
"Backstage?" Raph asked. "Isn't that term used for concerts?"  
"Yeah, why else would I come here?" She asked.  
"To watch the basketball game, you know, the reason we're here now."  
Sam stopped and stared at him. "Oh hey, funny thing, I don't know shit about basketball."  
"WHAT?!" the three oldest brothers shouted.  
"Why are you even here then?" Raph asked.  
Sam then pulled on Mikey' arm so that he was now standing in a tilted stance and leaning towards her. He smiled while Sam gave Raph a look that said 'duh.'  
"We're moving!" Donnie shouted.  
Leo and Donnie ran across the rooftop and leaped and rolled onto the rooftop of the arena. Raph soon followed with Mikey and Sam running and then leaping onto their boards which they used to travel down onto the rooftop. Mikey then lead the way as he ran over and opened up a curved vent.  
"Come on guys! We're going to miss the beginning of the game!"  
Sam took the lead as she ran forward and leaped into the opening with Mikey right behind her, and then the rest of the brothers behind him. Leo, Raph, and Donnie looked around at the room they were in. They were surrounded by metal beams above them, and tons of different grated walkways below them. They looked forward to see Sam and Mikey racing forward along the walkways until the two jumped and as they traveled downwards, the two vanished. The three brothers then ran after them and stopped when they reached the hole that the other two had jumped through. As they looked down the hole with fear and concern their expressions soon switched from these feelings to confusion. All they could see was the game getting set up down below. It wasn't until the saw Mikey waving his hands that they knew all was alright.  
They each carefully jumped down and their jaws dropped when they realized where they were.  
"Whoaaa!" Donnie shouted.  
"No way!" Leo exclaimed with a smile.  
"The jumbo tron?!" Raph shouted." How did you find out about this?"  
"Sam said she would sneak up here for different concerts, so when I said that I would love to see a basketball game in person, we worked together to figure out how to get us both in here. That's when we found that building we were just at and coordinated how to get from there to here and vice versa."  
"I have to admit, this is pretty incredible" Leo said as he smiled at the duo.  
"THE GAME'S STARTING!" Donnie shouted. 

Sam thought it was interesting that all four of the brothers were so absorbed in the game and fans of the sport. She was more so shocked that they were all fans of the exact same sport. She could easily see Raph and Mikey being fans of basketball, but she was a tiny bit surprised that Leo was so engaged as well. He seemed to like working out and at times he would playfully get rough with his brothers, but overall he usually seemed to prefer activities that were much calmer where he was alone, so it was a bit surprising to Sam when Leo was cheering just as loud as his crazy younger two brothers. She was even more shocked to hear Donnie cheering and act more energetic then any of them. Sam knew better than to judge a book by its cover, but Donnie never talked about sports, unless he did so when she just wasn't around. He was always working on a project or jotting things down wherever he could, (there were a few times she caught him writing on the walls because something came to his mind and he had nothing to write on) or playing videogames like the techy nerd that he was, so she found this new behavior of his at the arena both shocking and amusing. She enjoyed seeing all four of the brothers let loose and have fun, especially since she was so used to seeing them act super serious because they were either training or preparing to go on patrol. She was so used to seeing them act so serious and quiet, so she loved seeing them now act so crazy and loud. 

Sam looked back to the game and saw one of the players from the Knicks team run up to the 3 point line, dribble and dodge around the opposing player, and shoot the ball. The crowd went wild when the ball swished straight through the net.  
"Sam who's that?" Mikey asked, quizzing the girl.  
She paused for a few seconds before shrugging her shoulders.  
"Ughhh Sam! His last name is Smith. Based on where he threw the ball, which Smith is he? And don't tell me you forgot there's two!"  
"Ummmmm, let's see. He took a shot near the 3 point line which means he's probably a shooting guard, so he's…J.R. Smith!" she said, raising her eye brows in hope that she was right.  
"Before I can congratulate you…who's the other Smith and what does he play?" Mikey asked as he crossed him arms.  
Sam closed her eyes as she tried to think of the player she was asked about. "Jason Smith…and he plays on the 5 spot on the diagram… so he plays center."  
"Aye!" the four said, congratulating her.  
"That's my girl!" Mikey said as he pat her on the back. "I knew you could do it."  
Sam laughed. "I never said I couldn't do it, I just said that I have a ton of stuff I'm working on so forgive me if it takes longer than usual for me to pick up facts and stats on the sport."  
"So what kept you away from basketball?" Leo asked.  
"Nothing kept me away, I just never got into it. My parents always watched soccer, so my siblings and I started watching soccer, and then when I was in 5th grade I started playing for the first time and I got hooked and I started taking it seriously."  
"Well, welcome to the club" Raph said with a smile as he playfully nudged her. 

The group of five continued to watch and cheer as the game went on. None of them would ever admit it, but something as simple as watching the game slowly began bringing the group even closer together. This combined with the mix of how Sam had all of their backs the night previous and vice versa really strengthened the trusting bond that each of them was slowly building with Sam. This didn't mean that the oldest three trusted the girl 110% just yet though. In fact, there were still a few things that they wanted to know about her that they had yet to learn about. But because their youngest brother seemed to be learning a lot more about her, specifically her past, much quicker than the rest of them were, they decided to continue using the more peaceful approach and hoped that she would start opening up to them as they also slowly began opening up to her, even though they would never admit it.

***Wednesday June 18****th****, nighttime in the sewers* **

***Sam POV***

She couldn't believe it. It had been a little over two weeks but the motorcycle was almost complete. Luckily Donnie had been a huge help, and Mikey had actually been much more helpful than she expected. Mikey enjoyed scavenging for parts that she needed as much as Donnie enjoyed helping put the pieces where they belonged. Now that all the hard work was done, Sam just needed to finish putting a fresh coat of paint on the vehicle so that no one could ever tell that it had been purchased so cheaply and full of dents.  
She was so busy at work that she didn't realize that the other brothers had left the lair until she went to and ask Mikey and Donnie for their opinions on the paint job. When she had walked back from their hiding spot in one of the smaller open areas throughout the sewer and had arrived back at the lair, she was confused when she didn't see anyone but Splinter meditating on the raised circular piece near the living room. 

"Hey Sensei, where did everybody go?" she asked as she walked over towards him.  
"Ah Samantha, I didn't realize you were here" he said with a smile on his face.  
"Yeah, I was working on something in another space in the sewer, so technically I was and wasn't here, hehe."  
"I see. You and the boys have all been busy lately. I appreciate you looking after them in ways that only you can."  
She tilted her head to the side. "Huh?"  
He chuckled. "You've been teaching Leonardo to cook, and now even Raphael has been showing interest in the activity. You've given Donatello a lending hand in projects that no one else knows how to help him with. You're able to keep up with the duration of Raphael's workout routines whereas everyone else gets bored of doing the same thing day in and day out, and when the others are occupied or even just want some relaxing time, you enjoy participating in the same activities as Michelangelo."  
Sam rubbed the back of her head. She was embarrassed, but in a good way. "Gee Sensei, I hadn't really noticed any of that."  
He shook his head at her. "Sam, do you really think you can lie like that to a wise old rat?"  
She responded while rocking back and forth on her feet. "Leeeeeetttt's just keep it to ourselves that I've noticed the same things you have, okay? Okay!" she said as she gave him two thumbs up, leading the rat to laugh at her goofiness. "Anyway, did you happen to see where they all went?"  
"Ah, right! There was an alert on the police scanner saying that a gang was robbing an electronics store downtown, so the boys went on their way."  
"WITHOUT ME?!" she shouted.  
"I'm sorry my child, but they didn't know where you were. Well Michelangelo did, but Donatello said that there wasn't time to reach you and that they needed to move quickly in order to catch the robbers."  
"Hmph, well lucky for me I have a new set of wheels" she said as she rubbed her hands together.  
"Should I be concerned?" Splinter asked as he gave the girl a serious look.  
"Don't worry Sensei, it's nothing to worry about. I just have a surprise for Raph that he'll be receiving sooner than expected." 

And with that she ran back towards where she was working on the motorcycle, threw on a helmet and elbow and knee pads, and rode away down the alley ways of the sewers. 

***Turtles POV* **

He felt bad about having to leave her behind, but if it meant possibly saving a life or putting a criminal behind bars, then they needed to move fast. Donnie knew where Sam was, and he knew that his younger brother was upset that they couldn't go chase after her, but time was of the essence and they needed to leave now.  
The four brothers quickly gathered whatever they thought they might need and they jumped into the somewhat empty truck that Donnie was still working on and they sped away out of the sewers. 

"So what's the situation?" Raph asked as he walked around the back of the van.  
"An electronics store was robbed downtown" Donnie replied.  
"So this shouldn't be too tough then, right?"  
"I'm not sure, since this gang didn't just rob any ordinary electronics store."  
"I don't get it" Mikey chimed in while he sat on a couch against a wall in the van.  
"It's not like this is just an Apple store where it's filled with phones and computers. This building is also used for building and testing new technological devices that can be used for a variety of different situations. They're currently working on a new hand held heart rate monitor, and I'm sure that's what the thieves are aiming to take."  
"Why would they want a heart rate monitor?" Leo asked from the passenger's seat.  
"Devices like that are used by a variety of people. Not only can they help protect athletes from over working themselves, but they can also help weight loss patients maintain regular exercise and a sustainable dietary regimen, and they can also help injury rehabilitation patients recovering from an injury or an illness, or a cardiac incident, ensure that their gradual return to full strength and endurance proceeds safely and steadily. Basically, it can help many people that seriously need to monitor their heart rate by allowing them to constantly check it and make sure that they're alright, and these gang members probably know how expensive they are, especially since this is the latest prototype." 

Just as those final words left his lips, they turned down a corner and saw a few cars start speeding away from the electronics store. Donnie put his foot on the gas and tried to catch up to them, trying his best to watch out for any other traffic nearby. Luckily, this store happened to be on a street with more local shops which meant that by this time of night, most were all closed and the streets around this area were empty.  
"Is it only these two cars?" Raph asked as he walked up and now stood behind the space between the driver and passenger seat.  
"It looks like it" Donnie replied.  
"Alright Leo, let's take these two out" Raph said as he turned his head towards his older brother. Leo smiled and nodded as he stood up.  
"You take care of the car closest to us. Mikey will help me with the one that's further ahead."  
Raph nodded as Leo turned towards Mikey.  
"Alright Mikey, you've been practicing with that dart device, right?"  
"You know it bro! My aim has improved a lot!"  
"I'm going to go get it set up on top the van, so make sure that you're ready to fire, got it?"  
"Let's do this!"  
"That device is in a box on the bottom shelf in the back" Donnie cut in as he nodded his head towards the back of the van.  
"You're good to go Raph, keep your phone on you so we can communicate" Leo said.  
"Don't worry, I got this. Be back soon." Raph said as he made sure his shell cell was safely fastened in the pouch on his chest strap. He then walked towards the back of the van, threw open the doors, and swung himself onto the top of the van. Once he was able to maintain his balance, he ran across the top of the van and leaped off of it and onto the car in front of him. His weight caused the roof of the car to cave in some and made the car swerve a bit. Raph waited another minute or so until the car was close to an alley. He then shoved his arm through the roof and grabbed ahold of the steering wheel, turning the car into the alley where it crashed into a dumpster. 

Meanwhile, Leo and Mikey were getting ready for their chance to attack as well. Leo was starting up a device that was about the height of a 29 inch flat screen television, but it was thicker like a microwave. At the front of the device was a nozzle that could be moved with a controller as to where to aim the darts that were inside the device. Donnie had made the device in case they would ever need to attack an enemy from a far off distance (he had been working on it ever since he was a kid, but he could only find so many materials). Leo would get the device in position, and Mikey had been practicing how to use the controller to set up the nozzle in the perfect direction to shoot the darts.  
"You ready?" Leo asked as he turned towards Mikey.  
"Let's do this bro!" Mikey cheered.  
And with that, Leo swung himself up onto the roof of the car the same way Raph recently had. Once he was able to maintain his balance, he called down to Mikey, who then helped swing and toss the device up to Leo on the roof. Leo crouched down and laid on his chest as he slowly crawled forward on the top of the truck, trying to get as close as he could to the front of the vehicle so that the nozzle would have a clear shot when it needed to be fired.  
"Alright Mikey, whenever you're ready" Leo said into his shell cell which was fastened to a holder on his chest strap.  
"Just a few more seconds…" Mikey said as he looked down at the controller. On the controller were a few joy sticks that controlled the direction and things of that such for the nozzle's aim, and also a screen that was connected to a camera on the device that allowed Mikey to see what direction and also what object he would be shooting at. He tried his best to get a clear and solid aim and then *schwoop.* Mikey pressed the button and a dart came flying out from the nozzle and pierced its way into the enemy cars tire. The car swerved some and then crashed into a wall. 

Donnie slowed the truck down as they creeped up to where the car had crashed.  
"We need to start picking up the pace guys. I'm sure that someone will have called the cops by now. Let's start tying them up Mikey" Leo said after he had returned to the inside of the car and was now putting the device and its controller back where he had found them.  
"Wait!" Donnie called out. "There's movement behind us!"  
"Wait, what? We took out both cars!" Mikey called as he and Leo both looked out the open back doors.  
"Raph, where are you?" Leo said as he spoke into his shell cell.  
_"I'm up on a rooftop about a street away from where you are. I see some guys getting onto motorcycles!"  
_"They must have hid back while we chased their men in the cars, I'm sure those guys are hiding whatever they went to steal" Leo said with a serious and intense tone.  
_"Wait…whoa no way!"  
_"Raph what's wrong?"  
_"Where the hell did she get that?!"  
_"No way…" Donnie mumbled. "She's not riding it…"  
"WHAT?!" Leo hollered.  
Before anyone could answer him, he heard the revving of the motorcycles from way down the other end of the street. There were three motorcycles driving away from them, but there was one coming down the street that was heading in their direction. He couldn't see the face of the person who was heading in their direction because they had a helmet on, but he knew that body size and the slim yet muscular figure that was riding the bike, that and he had seen the same navy blue form fitting track pants and navy blue and maroon sweatshirt earlier that day.  
"How did Sam get that?" Leo groaned.  
"No time to talk! Hold on tight!" Donnie called out as he hit the gas and made a U-turn as quickly as he could.  
As they sped down the roadway, they saw Sam on her motorcycle as she sped towards the robbers. She grabbed what looked like one of her tonfa from the pocket on the side of the backpack she was wearing and swung in out to hit the driver of the opposing motorcycle head on. One of the other two motorcycles (the driver seemed to have a small suitcase tucked in front of him) turned around and sped down a separate roadway, but the other one still drove towards Sam. This time she would be attacking with her left arm, but in this position it was a bit difficult, especially since she had never driven a motorcycle before and barely knew how to maintain control of the vehicle alone. She knew she wouldn't be able to land a solid hit, so instead she tilted the bike back as both she and it slid forward. She was able to angle the vehicle so that it would slide diagonally some and then collide with the oncoming motorcycle, and as it did, she continued to slide forward. She smiled under her helmet as she mentally thanked herself for wearing the gloves, knee pads, and elbow pads that she was wearing. She didn't care what teasing might come from the others later, right now these protections were really helping her out, even though the slide was still very uncomfortable and put an incredible amount of pressure on her knees and arms. 

Once she had come to a complete stop, she heard a thud come from behind her and she quickly turned over, but it was just Raph who had climbed down and leaped off at the midway point of the building behind her.  
"Slick, very slick" he teased as he held his hand out to her.  
"Yeah whatever, I did what I had to…plus that's also all I could really do" she said as she was pulled off the ground.  
"Regardless, it worked" Raph said with a smile as he turned away.  
Sam looked in the same direction that Raph had and to her surprise Leo and Mikey had somehow run past her and were already tying and piling up the robbers they had just stopped.  
"Where's Donnie?" she asked.  
"Chasing the last guy, hopefully the last" Leo responded.  
"Heh, did you have a nice trip?" Mikey asked as he walked back over.  
Sam squinted her eyes at him. "I didn't trip…I thought the ground needed a hug..."  
"And how did that go?"  
"Not well, our relationship is really rocky" she replied as the two laughed at how stupid their jokes were.  
"Guys," Leo cut in, "Donnie said the guy is circling around, so he'll be passing by soon."  
"I'm using the new ride" Raph said as he walked the motorcycle over to where they were standing.  
"Fine. Mikey, Sam, let's go."  
Sam shrugged her shoulders. "Lead the way fearless leader."  
Raph walked the vehicle back some so that it was hiding in the shadows along the side of the building. This way, if he needed to move quickly, the other biker wouldn't see him coming.  
Leo led the way up the building by grabbing onto the beams of the metal stairways along the outside of the building and swinging himself up to the next set above until within a few seconds he reached the roof of the building. He sensed movement behind him and assumed that it was Mikey who was trailing behind, and he also assumed that Sam was probably on his back and holding onto his shoulders, but it was both of them that had moved up the side of the building the same way that he had. He was a bit shocked and wondered if there was anything that Sam couldn't do. She continued to prove that she could do pretty much anything when she ran over to the opposite ledge and said "I see the truck, let's go!" and then ran along the ledge of the roof, dived forward, and tucked and rolled onto the top of the truck. Mikey wasn't far behind her since he wanted to make sure he was close by in case something were to go wrong. Then, Leo followed behind the other two, and once he safely landed on the top of the truck, he crawled over to pull open the doors. He then made sure that everyone was safely inside before slamming them shut behind him.  
"Leo!" Donnie called out, "while chasing this guy I was able to connect to whatever station he's using with whatever device he has up there to communicate with an outside source. A helicopter will be here any minute to pick him up. He has a suitcase with the latest prototypes of the new heart rate monitors. We need to act quickly."  
Leo paused as he tried to come up with a quick plan. "Mikey, you think you can take another shot?"  
"What if he drops them?" Sam asked. "Some people might really need those devices to monitor whatever heart condition they may have…"  
"What are you thinking?" Leo asked.  
"I've seen you guys practice with that device back there, you aim and Mikey shoots. That means you need someone to run up and catch that suitcase. Once that dart kicks in, and depending on which type of darts Donnie supplied, those chemicals will knock that guy out fast."  
"What do you have to say about that Raph?" Leo asked as he looked down at his shell cell on his chest strap.  
_"Whatever you do, I got your back down here Sam."  
_Everyone else in the truck nodded towards one another, and they quickly worked together to form a plan.  
Minutes later, Leo pushed open the back doors and helped Sam get settled on the roof of the vehicle, and then he also climbed up with the device tucked under his arm. He turned his head to confirm that the revving he heard behind him was Raph. Once he saw that it was his brother who was trailing behind them, he then crawled forward and started to get the device set up in place. He then turned to make sure that Sam was still alright. He saw that her platform was still suctioned cupped to the roof and that the thick lanyard was connected by the snap hooks to both her nylon webbing chest harness and the suction cupped platform.  
As Leo continued to get the device set up, he heard a helicopter get closer and closer to where they were driving. The next thing he knew, it was over top of the biker, and a harness was being lowered by a thick lanyard cable. The motorcyclist carefully stood up on his bike and jumped, hooking his right arm through one of the two loops of the harness, and he clung on to this lanyard cable as best as he could as he was slowly lifted off the ground, the suitcase tucked under his left arm.  
"Mikey, you have one shot! Raph, get ready on the side!" Leo called out.  
Within a couple seconds, a dart was shot from the device, and it pierced the shoulder of the man in the air. Just like Sam predicted, the suitcase slowly started to slip out from under the man's arm. Sam stood up and took a few steps back. Once she saw that Raph was beside the truck, she then ran forward (making sure to unhook her harness of course) and leaped as far forward as she could. Donnie slammed on the breaks so that the sudden motion would send Sam flying even further forward. This plan worked, and Sam was able to grab onto the falling suitcase. As she then fell back down to the earth, Raph sped up as fast as he could so that he could try to catch her. This sort of worked, but Sam only had one arm available to try and grab onto Raph, so she slipped a bit and fell to his right some. Luckily she was wearing her knee pads and used them to skid across the concrete for a few seconds, her left arm around Raph and her right clinging onto the suitcase. Raph was able to grab onto her and quickly pulled her back up. As she was pulled up, she swung her left leg around so that she was now sitting behind Raph. 

The helicopter flew off with the man still dangling in the air, and everyone could finally catch their breath. Raph turned the motorcycle around and rode back towards where the truck had stopped. He parked the vehicle and helped Sam off.  
"You both okay?" Leo asked as he walked around from the back of the truck.  
"Ugh, that put butterflies in my stomach" Mikey complained.  
"You been eating caterpillars?" Sam teased.  
Mikey playfully shoved her shoulder. "Jerk, don't make fun of me for being worried."  
"What were you worried about? Raph had my back!" she said as she faced Raph with a huge smile.  
He gave her a more serious look in return. "I'd agree, if you knew how to fall correctly."  
"I'm sorry, but what bullshit is this?" she asked.  
"You fell to the side, how do you fall to the side? How did you not fall straight down?"  
"I did fall straight down! I only had one free arm! So I couldn't hold on very well and then slid to the slide!"  
"Then you need to learn how to grab onto people better" he mocked as Sam rolled her eyes in return. "So," he began, "how much longer until you were going to let me see this?" he asked as he looked back at the motorcycle behind him.  
"A few more days. I was painting it today…and of course I let it slide across the ground…"  
"How long have you had it?"  
"I dunno, hey Donnie! When did I first show this to you?"  
Donnie walked past the front of the truck after exiting from the driver's seat. "Umm, it's been a little more than a couple of weeks I believe."  
"Wait, you did this?" Leo asked as he looked at Sam.  
"Well, I mean Donnie and Mikey-"  
"NOPE!" Mikey said as he wrapped his arm around Sam's shoulder and covered her mouth with his hand. "She'll never admit it, but this was all her idea and she did 99% of the work!"  
Donnie nodded with a smile. "He's right, she helped find a lot of the parts and she's been working hard on it. I was just an aide on this one."  
Raph nodded and raised his eyebrows in surprise, while Leo shook his head and smiled.  
"Is there anything you can't do? Anything you're afraid of?" Leo asked.  
Sam finally was able to rip Mikey's hand from her mouth. "NOTHING-"  
"Heights, bugs, the dark-"  
"I'm not afraid of the dark!...I get nervous when I hear creepy noises when it's pitch black…or if the lights go out and I don't know why…"  
"So you're afraid of heights?" Donnie asked in a mocking tone.  
"Only when it's a straight drop down, as in there's nothing ANYWHERE to land on or grab onto. Whatever I'm walking on or hanging from also determines how scared I am."  
"Ahh, got it. And bugs?"  
"AS LONG AS THEY'RE NOWHERE NEAR ME THEN I'M GOOD! I'LL BE CALM!"  
"Secrets out! We know how to mess with Sam now" Raph said as he nudged Leo's shoulder. The two brother's laughed as they walked towards the motorcycle and towards the passenger's seat of the truck.  
"Wait, what do you mean?" Sam asked, failing to stay calm as she feared of what those two might do now that they knew what freaked her out more than anything. "Tell me what that means!" she shouted as she climbed up the side and hung onto the door handle on the outside of the passenger door.  
"Nothing Sam, nothing at all" Leo replied as he locked the door and Donnie slowly began to pull away.  
Sam heard the motorcycle start up and as she jumped down from the side door she stood and turned toward Raph.  
"What does that mean?!"  
"Nothing Sam" Raph replied as he rode past her and ahead of the truck. The truck then followed behind the motorcycle, and Mikey threw open the back doors and held his hand out.  
"Come on Sam!"  
Sam quickly jogged over and grabbed his hand as he pulled her into the back of the truck. After he closed the doors, Mikey pulled Sam back and whispered in her ear. She hoped to hear something like 'don't worry, they would never do anything like that to you,' but it made her even happier when he whispered "don't worry, do you think I'd ever let them do something like that to you?"  
Sam turned towards him and put her fist out. "Cowabunga" she whispered.  
He returned the gesture and whispered "Booyakasha."

***Friday June 20****th****, Later in the Evening***

"We got here earlier than expected" Donnie said as he led the way across the walkways hidden within the ceiling.  
"She said that depending on how many or if any stoppages occur that it can change the starting time of their games, so I wanted to make sure we got here a few minutes earlier in case the game started sooner than expected" Leo said as he followed behind. "You see her team yet Mikey?"  
"I'm looking, but I don't see anyone that matches the team pictures." 

All day Sam had been practicing with her soccer team for a club tournament game that they would be playing that night. It was a smaller tournament that only included local club teams, which meant that the location was much closer to home than most of the teams tournaments. Tonight was the last night for this tournament, (the tournament had gone on for a few weekends rather than having multiple games in one day) and knowing this, the guys decided that they would surprise her by watching her play. The night before Mikey had asked about where the game was being played, but Sam never would have guessed that they'd come and watch her. Once he had the info he needed, Mikey talked to Donnie who then coordinated the best underground route that would allow them to sneak into the arena. Though the tournament was small, the indoor arena was not. There were tons and tons of rooms that could be used for games and practices for multiple different sports, so it was difficult for the guys to figure out which field Sam was playing on. 

"Hey, I see some teams over here, any of them look familiar?" Raph asked as he looked down at a field where two female teams were about to play each other.  
Mikey took a quick glance and snickered. "Nope, not them" he said as he quickly turned away.  
"Dude you didn't even look!" Raph snapped.  
"Trust me I know." Mikey walked further down the walkway they were on when finally he spotted Sam. "Found her!"  
The other three brother's walked over towards Mikey and looked at the field below.  
"Mikey, these are boy's teams! Why would Sam be down there?" Raph barked.  
"Because I have the coolest best friend ever" Mikey replied with a cunning smile.  
"He's right, there she is Raph!" Donnie said as he pointed to a person in the bottom right corner of the field.  
Raph was astonished, but also curious as he stared at the girl in her new look. Her hair was pulled back in a pony-tail and her bangs were pushed back with a headband as she wore her black and red uniform, a zig zag going down the entire outfit so that one entire half of the outfit was red and the other black. 

Just then, a whistle tweeted, and the game began. Sam slowly started moving forward towards the yellow and blue bearing players on the opposing team. Even though she was on defense she was constantly moving around to different parts of the field. A few minutes after the game started, one of her teammates dropped the ball back down the field to the halfway line on her side of the field. Sam ran to the ball and slowly but steadily started to dribble the ball, looking for any open teammates. She saw that no one was open, but with one quick chop she could run down the middle. She ran up to the opposing player, quickly chopped the ball, and dribbled down towards the goal. Within seconds there was someone running right next to her, so she quickly pulled the ball back and passed to some open space near the right wing. As soon as the ball left her foot, her teammate darted towards the open space and took a shot. The ball was shot just a little too high and it bounced off the top of the board.  
"Ahhh, just a little lower and she would have had another assist!" Mikey cried.  
Just then the goalie threw the ball back down the field and Sam sprinted to get back. There was already someone covering her position, but Sam went to aide him. She helped corner in the opposing player until he lost his footing on the ball. The red and black bearing player quickly passed the ball to Sam ran back a few steps, and when Sam got the ball she quickly bounced it off the wall around the opposing player and back to her teammate who ran the ball back up field.  
"She's fast, I'm surprised she's a defender" Leo said.  
"There's a few reasons," Mikey replied, "one of the original reasons was that no one ever wanted to play defense because that's not the scoring position, so she got tons of playing time in the position that no one wanted. The other reason is because of something her coach told her."  
"And that something would be?"  
"He said that scouts don't always look for the players that score the goals, but rather they look for the players who are able to set up the people who do score. They look for people who can get the ball to that perfect spot so that the forwards can get their goals. He told her that you truly look your best when you're making someone else look good."  
"Heh, so she's looking for the best strategy even when it comes to sports" Donnie chuckled. 

At the 20 minute mark, the opposing team scored a goal, and at the 40 minute mark, Sam's team scored a goal. By half time the game was still tied at 1-1.  
The fast pace of the game continued as soon as the second half started. Sam kept pushing up more and more. There were multiple times where she had to sprint back in order to mark her opposing player and prevent them from scoring, but she always made it back just in time to block their shot, or to stick with them long enough to make them drop the ball back down to the other half of the field. Around the 25 minute mark of the second half, Sam blocked a shot taken from an opposing player, sending the ball into the air above the two of them. They both crouched down, but Sam was able to jumper higher than the boy, and she won the head ball and was able to send it to one of her teammates nearby.  
"Dang, she sure can keep up with these guys" Raph said in amazement.  
"She has to, she's not allowed to play on the girls team" Mikey responded.  
"Wait, what?"  
"Yeah, apparently she started getting to rough when playing other girls, and she showed me video clips of other club teams around the country. Girls teams can have some tough and rude players, but she was going overboard even with them, so they recommended her play for a boys team." 

Just then, Sam was moving around from open space to open space on the field. She waited for her teammate to take a shot on goal, and continued to run forward even after he did so. The shot was just a hair to high, but after the ball had quickly bounced off the top board of the goal, Sam was already sprinting towards the goal. She quickly ran up and kicked the ball towards the bottom left corner of the goal while the goalie was still in the air from trying to block that last shot. The buzzard sounded from her scoring the goal and people cheered from the stands.  
"THAT'S MY BEST FRIEND!" Mikey shouted.  
"Geez she's fast!" Donnie exclaimed with a smile on his face.  
The game continued on, and the boys were constantly amazed at how Sam was able to hold her all. She was able to sprint to the ball and catch up with anyone on the field, and not only that, but she had incredible speed when it came to her footwork with the ball as well. She was great at improvising in the moment and just moving the ball around in whatever way she needed to. She was also very aggressive and anytime a boy pushed her, she would push back twice as hard. She wasn't perfect of course and there were times where she was beat to the ball or when the opposing person was able to cut around her, but the majority of the time the plays were in her favor.  
By the 40 minute mark the other team had scored once again and the score was tied 2-2. By this point in the game, Sam was playing the sweeper position rather than a defensive wing like she had been the rest of the game.  
"Why are they keeping her so far back? She should be up by the other goal!" Raph complained.  
"I agree, she's fast enough to dribble around these guys, and she's been making great short and quick passes when enclosed in crowded spaces like the opposing team's penalty box is right now" Leo added.  
"Yeah but you have to remember, her mindset is to do whatever it takes to make sure that the ball is staying down at the other end of the field. So while her other 4 teammates are up at the other half of the field, if the ball gets pushed back to her, she can quickly just get it back up to the other half of the field. They constantly practice scenarios like this, especially her and that guy up their named Thomas" Mikey replied as he pointed to a tall boy with brown eyes and short brown hair. "He's usually the main forward who always stays on the upper half of the field unless a penalty kick is being taken against his team."  
Right after Mikey said this, an opposing player had cut around the upper defender who was much further up the field and was quickly dribbling towards the goal. Sam ran at an angle so that it would be harder for him to cut around her. As he kept trying to move the ball in a different direction, Sam was bouncing on her feet and moving quickly so that every time he went to move to the side or diagonally, she was always there to block the shot. She did this long enough for the second defender to come over and aide her in the same way that she had earlier, except this time she was about two steps ahead and closer towards the other goal. She carefully made a short pass off the wall to her assisting defender, who then made another short diagonal pass to some open space beside her. She quickly got the ball, made one quick cut around the offender who had raced back to her spot, and then kicked the ball high into the air. It soared all the way down to the other end of the field to where Thomas was standing. It bounced once and Thomas took a shot. The kick was hard and solid and the ball moved so quickly that those watching could barely even see it. Within that split second, the ball slammed against the wall and the third and final goal was made. The stands roared with applause at the incredible goal that was scored, but the players on both teams were quickly getting back in position.  
Just as quickly as the goal was scored, the blue and yellow team were sprinting down towards the red and black bearing team's goal. All 5 players from both teams were right on top of each other in the small space. Sam was marking the player who currently had the ball, and it was obvious that he was not happy that his team was losing. Full of anger and frustration, he got his elbow and jabbed Sam in the stomach. She took a step back and held her stomach, but quickly tried to get back in position after realizing what this one step had just done. The boy took a shot, but luckily the ball went flying into the net above. People were booing since the ref hadn't blown his whistle, but Sam was able to get her revenge. As soon as that same player got the ball seconds later, she tailed him. She nodded to her other teammates and they understood what she was doing with that simple gesture. One of the offensive players began playing more defensively, and Sam continued to tail the opposing player. Even when he didn't have the ball, she continued to mark him all over the field. Every time one of his teammates went to pass to him, she was right there to block his shots or to kick the ball away from him. With 30 seconds left, she intercepted another pass sent to him and began to dribble the ball towards the opposing goal. Once again, the male player attacked her, only this time he obviously pushed her down. Sam slid across the turf and once again there were tons of boo's coming from the stands.  
"OH COME ON!" Leo shouted!  
"GEEZ REF! DO YOUR JOB!" Raph exclaimed.  
"Mikey, is this happening because of why I think it is?" Donnie asked.  
"If it's a gender thing then yes. She told me that this happens at least once a game, since the refs know they'll get criticized if they constantly give her pk's because people will assume it's because she's a girl. So even if guys purposefully push her or trip her, the ref's won't do a thing about it. She said that one time, there was this guy who looked at the ref to make sure he wasn't looking, and then he elbowed her in the nose."  
"SERIOUSLY?!" Raph shouted. He paused afterward, realizing how defensive he sounded and realizing how concerned he had grown for the girl's safety and well-being. 

Just then the final buzzard sounded and the game was over. Player's wearing black and red ran over to Sam and started circling around her. They patted her on the back and her gave daps, treating her like she was one of the guys.  
"THAT'S MY SISTER! WOO!" shouted a voice from the stands.  
The turtles looked over at the Asian man standing and cheering from the stands.  
"Who's that?" Leo asked.  
"Jay, Sam's older adopted brother" Mikey replied.  
Jay exited the stands and waited for Sam to walk over. He was standing with some other young teens as he waited for his sister to arrive from the other side of the building.  
"Are they siblings?" Raph asked in confusion.  
"Yes, but not Sam's. They're all related to other players on the team. They're with Jay because they're all the younger siblings of people who have older siblings that Jay is also friends with."  
"She sure does tell you everything, doesn't she Mikey?" Donnie asked with a laugh.  
"Well duh, that's why we're best friend's bruh! I know almost all the main details of her home life."  
"Almost? Why Michelangelo, I thought you would know everything by now. You know, since you're her BEST FRIEND and all," Leo mocked as he smiled at his younger brother.  
Mikey smiled back at his brother, but his expression had softened. "She tells me a lot, and I do the same to her, but I can tell that there are still some serious details she hasn't told me yet."  
"Like how she only talks about Jay in the present tense?" Donnie asked.  
"What?"  
"You haven't noticed that? Whenever she talks about her parents or her other siblings, she always uses the past tense, but she uses the present tense when talking about Jay."  
The other three brother's took a moment to stop and think about what Donnie had just said, and the more they thought about it, the more they realized he was right.  
"Regardless, I don't want her to feel like she has to explain herself. I want her to talk about her personal life when she's ready" Mikey said with a sincere smile.  
"Awww, well aren't you the perfect gentleman?" Raph said as he threw an arm around Mikey's shoulder.  
The youngest rolled his eyes as all four of them laughed.  
"Hey, what's April doing here?" Leo asked.  
Off in the distance, Sam and some of the other boys had caught up to Jay and the other teens, and next to them was April who was chatting away with the group.  
"Huh, I wonder if there's going to be a news segment about the soccer team" Donnie added.  
"Either way, I'm taking a picture and sending it to Sam!" Mikey said.  
He took the picture, sent the message, and waited. A few seconds later, he saw Sam's shocked face as she turned towards where they were hiding. Mikey crouched down and quickly waved his hand in a spot where it would momentarily be seen. A large smile grew on his face when he saw that Sam had the exact same expression on her face after seeing that he was there.  
Her smile then grew even larger when she saw three more hands quickly wave to her, letting her know that all four of the brother's had come and watched her play.  
"Alright, let's go. Until Donnie finishes fixing the small police scanner, we don't know if the city needs us or not" Leo stated.  
The brother's began to head out, wondering what it was that Sam and April were talking about, but knowing that they would eventually know once the two joined back up with them the next day. 

***Sam POV after the Game*  
**

"I told you all those practice plays would be worth it!" Thomas exclaimed as he walked next to Sam. The two walked with their group as the team dispersed and walked around the field and over towards where their family members were waiting for them.  
"Oh I knew they would! You're telling this to the wrong person, Kyle is the one wanted to keep ending our practices early!" she said as she playfully glared at the boy she was accusing.  
"HEY! I only wanted to end practices early when I knew we could get free food! I swear every time there was a restaurant with some type of free give away, you two wanted to extend our practice time."  
"God all you think about is food" Ken chuckled as he threw his arm around his friends shoulder, playfully wrestling with him as they walked.  
"Well, now you should be happy that we didn't stop to eat" she said as she shot the two dorks a huge smile.  
"See, what we should really be talking about is how amazing my first goal was, which lead to our increase in stamina" Ryan said. Ryan was mixed and had light brown skin with a short haircut and brown eyes.  
"Oh my god, I've never met someone as cocky as you" Nathan said as he rolled his eyes. Nathan had short brown hair and brown eyes. He had some light facial hair and had visible muscles even through his uniform.  
"It's called confidence! And I need it if I want scouts to look at me!"  
"Then in that case, I've never met someone as confident as you" Aaron said with a smirk. He was the cousin to Nathan and had similar physical features.  
"Are you kidding me? We just won another tournament! We're going to have scouts all over us!" Key said with a huge smile.  
"Psh, easy for you to say that. If you don't get scouted for this sport then you have a million other sports you can be scouted for" Ryan said, rolling his eyes.  
"Dude, I only play a few" Key said.  
"Let's count," Sam cut in, "there's soccer, basketball, lacrosse, football, and baseball."  
"Don't forget wrestling!" Kris added.  
"Oh right, and wrestling" she said as she gave Key a mocking smile.  
"Okay, okay. But you guys know soccer is my favorite out of all of them. So I want to impress the soccer scouts as much as you guys."  
"Don't worry. As long as we all play the way we did tonight, then we're all going to be living the dream as professional athletes" Kris **ey, what's April **said. 

By then, they had made their way over to where Jay was standing.  
"Hey Jay, I totally didn't know you were here and screaming the whole time" Sam teased as she gave her older brother a hug.  
"Does anything hurt? Are you alright?"  
"Yes Jay, I'm not crying and I'm walking on my own. I'm perfectly fine."  
"Once again you were incredible out their Sam, way to show that girls can keep up with the guys" said Grace.  
"That's why you should join the track team. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge" said Clay.  
Thomas, Clay, and Grace were triplets and born in that order. Each of them had the same short brown colored haircut, but Thomas and Grace both had brown eyes while Clay had blue.  
"Oh hush up! How about you do something besides just run!" Thomas teased.  
"I do more than run…I also do long jump" Clay said, followed by his brother playfully hitting him.  
"So, did my stupid brother steal your spotlight again?" Angel asked.  
"I said it was confidence! Stop making me sound like a bad person!" Ryan exclaimed.  
Angel was the year younger sister to Ryan, meaning she was the same age as Sam. Angel had the same light brown skin as Ryan, and also had black and brown hair with brown eyes. 

"Excuse me," a voice cut in, "but you guys are players from the winning team right?"  
"April! What's up?" Sam said with a smile.  
"You know her?" Jay asked.  
"Oh yeah. I don't know if you two have met, but she works with Irma. Not too long ago Kris and I walked to their work building and April was kind enough to give me a ride to a friend's house. They were actually friends of hers as well."  
"Oh…really?" Jay asked.  
At that time, Sam had gotten a text message, so she didn't notice the worry in her brother's voice, or that her friends were all faking their calm and collected expressions at hearing that Sam was friends with friends of April's.  
Jay lent his hand out to April. "Jay Allan Park, nice to meet you" he said, fixing his expression so that April didn't sense his distrust in her.  
"April O'Neil, news reporter for Channel 6 News. It's nice to meet you."  
"Oh sorry, I didn't mean to act so clueless. I've seen you on t.v. before. I'm surprised to see you here though, since you're usually covering the latest and most serious news stories."  
"Well I do that, and I'm doing that now. I don't know if any of you know this, but tons of people are talking about this team and are excited to see you in the tournament coming up this summer to see if you'll be the team to represent New York in the states cup."  
"We know" Sam cut in. "And we're hoping to impress tons of scouts when we fight for our state spot" she said with a huge smile.  
April gave her a funny look. "You're much cheerier than you were a second ago."  
"Haha, it's nothing. I just found out that our friends were here tonight" Sam said, a huge smile still on her face.  
"Really? Were they in the stands?" Jay asked, masking his concern.  
"Yeah, but they had to leave quickly, so I didn't get a chance to see where they were sitting. Anyway, is there any way we can help you out April?"  
"Yes! If you guys are okay, would you mind if I interviewed any or possibly all of you? I'd love to ask you some questions about both this game and the summer tournament."  
Sam turned towards the group standing behind her.  
Each of them smiled and nodded, resulting in a very happy April.  
"Thank you so much to all of you! Please just give me one minute to get my cameraman and we'll start getting everything set up!" April walked off, and her and another man (Sam recognized that the man was Vern) began setting up a camera. 

Throughout the entire interview, Sam was never able to detect that Jay and their friends were fighting to keep their cool in front of April. They were all shocked to hear that Sam was friends with people that April knew, and they really wanted to ask Sam questions about this friendship. After the interview, they all walked with Jay to the nearest bus stop, thoughts circling through their minds about who exactly it was that Sam was friends with all this time. By now, through word of mouth from different friends and siblings, they knew that Sam was starting to go back to how she used to be and that this was because she had made a new friend. Now it had come out that she had made new friends, which was news to everyone, and they so badly wanted to ask her who these friends were and how she met them. However, they knew there would be consequences if they tried to dive deeper into the subject, especially if she was friends with who they feared she might be, so for now they all stayed calm and collected and acted like they all normally would, hopping that word of this wouldn't reach 'him.'


	19. Chapter 19

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. **

Chapter #19

***Monday, July 28****th****, 6:00 at night in the lair***

The guys were finishing up their dinner and were about to disperse from the table and go about with whatever it was they felt like doing.  
"Dang, I never expected to be the one to clean up after dinner" Mikey groaned. Usually it was Mikey who prepared the meals (whenever they didn't order takeout that is) but today was his first time cleaning all the dishes after the meal. He didn't mind it, but he couldn't stand that whenever he was close to finishing up, someone would come up and place another dish in the sink. Just as he thought this, Leo walked up and placed another dish in the sink.  
"Awwww come on dude!" Mikey said, tilting his head back in frustration, just wanting to be done so he could return to his comic book collection.  
"Welcome to my world" Leo said with a smirk as he pat his brother on the shoulder. Usually Leo was one of the ones to clean the dishes afterwards since he never cooked, but he and Raph had actually made dinner all by themselves that night, so they were able to kick back and relax after they ate their food. As Leo began to walk away, he noticed the untouched dinner spot where Sam usually sat and wondered how their human friend was doing that night.  
"Hey Mikey," Leo said as he turned back towards his younger brother, "have you checked up on Sam recently?"  
"No! Because I've been DOING ALL THE DISHES!" he said as he threw his wash cloth down into the sink. "Finally I'm free! I'm never letting you guys cook again! That or I need to convince Donnie to switch jobs and let me set the table from now on."  
"Not happening" Donnie said in the living room as he kicked his feet up on the couch and began playing some videogames.  
Leo laughed at Mikey as he groaned while pulling his phone out of its holder. His laughter soon faded as he saw his brother's expression change from one of playful annoyance to one of sorrow.  
"Mikey?" Leo asked softly.  
"Jay got caught up at work…Sam's still all alone…" Mikey stated softly. 

Now that all the brother's knew about Sam's backstory with her family, they also knew that the anniversary of all their deaths was on July 28th. Sam had mentioned days earlier that she would like to spend that day away from everyone but her brother. They always spent the entire day together and later in the evening would go and visit the graves of both their parents and their siblings together, but tonight Jay was taking a very long time to get off of work, and as the day grew closer to ending, Sam had spent the entire memorial day of her siblings by herself. None of the turtles had made contact with her expect for Mikey who would send a check-up text every 4 hours or so to make sure she was keeping a leveled head and was doing alright. When he stated that she was alone, all the brothers froze. Raph was about to head to his room and polish his sais, but he completely stopped walking and stood still in the entry way to the back rooms after he heard what his brother said. Donnie paused his game, so now the room was completely silent.  
"Mikey, did Sam happen to say how much longer it would be until her brother gets home?" Leo asked softly.  
Mikey looked back at his shell cell and read over the message. "She said it would be at least a couple more hours" he said as he violently snapped his phone shut, making it obvious how upset he was that his friend was suffering alone.  
Leo gave his brother a small smile. "Alright, then let's go give our friend a visit."  
And as soon as the words left his lips, he could see Raph and Donnie smiling from across the room just as much as Mikey was. 

***Same night, 6:15p.m. In Sam's room*  
Themes:  
One More Light-Linkin Park  
Fix You-Coldplay  
Trading Yesterday-Shattered**

Sam sat on her bed with her legs pulled up against her chest and her face buried in her knees. She had gotten over feeling alone, but this was the one night that she couldn't handle loneliness. She knew her brother's job kept him away from home almost all of each day, but they had been kind enough to always give him the entire day off when this day came around each year, yet this year they just wouldn't let him come home. Sam had already cried enough that morning from thinking back to the good times that she missed with her siblings, and this time she cried more than usual since she didn't have an arm wrapped around her to remind her that she had at least one last family member here to protect her from more than just the Foot. Without Jay there, she felt the same exact way she did when she woke up in that hospital bed the morning after the attack, like she was just existing without a reason to live. She knew Jay was still alive now (obviously) but not having him next to her today of all days was killing her more than she ever thought it would. She held her pocket knife in her left hand, more afraid than ever that another attack would occur. Maybe it was that she had barely eaten that day because of her emotions messing up her appetite, but she didn't feel well and something made her feel like something bad was going to happen. She turned all the lights in the apartment off so that no one would think she was home, and then no criminals would try and bother her. She made sure all her electronics were turned off so that not one sound was being made. Sam didn't want to draw any attention to herself or to her home, terrified that the slightest of sounds would lead the Foot right to her location and that they would try to face her all by herself. If she was ever attacked, in general, she knew she could defend herself, but she knew she wasn't in the right mindset to fight tonight and that her emotions would literally get her killed tonight.  
_"*sigh* I wish I hadn't told Mikey to leave me alone today. I know this is and always will be a dreadful day filled with pain, but today is worse than ever before…"  
_She jumped a bit when she heard a vibration sound, the sound seeming much louder since all other devices were turned off.  
Sam looked at her phone and read a message that said, "_Hey, I know you wanted to be alone today, but I could come keep you company while you wait for Jay. I promise I'll leave as soon as he gets there and leave you two alone like you wanted. I just…hate to think you're suffering all by yourself."  
_For the first time that day, Sam's lips formed a very small smile on her face as she read the message of concern from her friend.  
_"I'd love that. I'll disable the alarm for you."  
_Sam quickly disabled the alarm systems she had set up in her room and then gently tossed her phone on the side of her bed. She rested her chin on her still pulled up knees, and then turned her head so that her left cheek rested on the top of her knee while she stared at the wall to her right, lost in her thoughts…until she heard the window slide open on the opposite side of the room from where she was staring.  
She quickly sat up, tightly gripping her knife, and stared at her window. He grip loosened as she saw her best friend poke his head in and smile as he turned towards her.  
"Hey, you good?" he asked cautiously.  
"Heh, don't worry. You're still allowed in" she said. She loved how he always double checked before following through with his actions. He was always looking out for her, and she would never get tired of that.  
"Alright, just checking" he said with a smile. He then stood up and lifted his leg up so he could climb over and through the windowsill.  
Sam's expression quickly changed into one of shock. Her eyes went wide when she then saw Leo climbing through the windowsill. She didn't realize that she was staring at him as he walked across the room and observed the space that was foreign to him.  
"So, this is what a normal teenage bedroom looks like," he said as he nodded his head.  
Then Donnie entered the room, and of course the first words that came out of his mouth were related to the computer on Sam's desk which was close to the window.  
Then Raph came in, and the first thing he noticed was the weapon his friend was holding in her hand.  
"Nice knife" he said bluntly.  
Sam made a confused look and then finally realized she was still holding the weapon.  
She calmly played off her embarrassment and shrugged, "it's okay." She placed it on the small side table by her bed, and as she turned back around she felt her bed dip down some. Mikey had jumped onto the bed and had kicked his feet up.  
"So, are you cool if I bring my brother's over?" he asked with a nervous smile.  
"Shoes dude."  
"Oh! My bad!" he said as he quickly kicked his shoes over to the usual spot he left them when he hung out in her room.  
Sam smiled. "Much better. And no, it's fine. There's not much seating in here though, so I'll show you guys the living room. Heh, Donnie you can join us when you're done feeling up my computer" she said as she stood up and headed towards the doorway.  
"It's so beautiful-"  
"Let's go genius" Raph said as he pushed Donnie forward and away from the device. 

The boys followed Sam out the doorway and down a hallway on the right. They then soon made another right at the end of the hall and they were now looking at the living room of the apartment. There wasn't a whole lot of furniture, but the essentials were there. There was a long couch that made an L shape, with four seats on each side, and there was also a large soft reclining chair by the side of the couch. There were some small shelving units closer to where the door was on the other side of the room.  
"Get comfy" Sam said, and as soon as she said so, she turned towards Mikey who had also turned towards her. The two eyed each other and then dashed for the reclining chair. Mikey was about to jump into the seat, but then Sam dashed around the corner and kicked him out of the chair just as he was about to land and quickly sit down.  
"Ha! Now I'm in the lead, 5 to 4!" she shouted as she pointed at him.  
"Uhhh," he groaned, "I'm not training you anymore. You're using my moves against me" he said as he climbed up onto the couch and laid down.  
The remaining three brothers shook their heads at the crazy duo and continued to check out the rest of the apartment.  
Raph sat on the other side of the couch. He looked up in time to see Sam toss him the remote and tell him to pick something to watch, so he saw she had Netflix and started looking through movies on there.  
"Hey Donnie, can you go grab me a drink from the fridge?" Sam asked with a smile.  
Donnie squinted his eyes at her, knowing that something was up, but nodded and headed towards the fridge anyway. He walked towards the back of the living room which lead to a small dining room table, and on the left there was an entryway that lead into the decent sized kitchen. He opened the fridge and his eyes went wide as he saw a variety of Maaza brand juice boxes.  
"Help yourself" Sam called out from the living room with a smile.  
"I'm starting with the coconut water and mango flavored one first!" he called back.  
Sam laughed as she then turned her head to see what the eldest of the group was up to. He had quietly made his way to the opposite side of the room by the door where the small shelving unit was. He observed all the photos on the walls and on the shelves and smiled as he saw nothing but smiling faces in each photo. As Leo continued to look at the pictures along the shelves, he remembered when they were all at the mall and Sam had commented that she used to shop around with Brian at antique stores and how that had become a tradition for the two of them. Tonight was a night where Sam was supposed to remember the good times that she shared with all of her family, and he was also curious to see what other similarities their unique families might have had in common, so he took a chance in finding this information out.  
"Hey Sam," Leo said as he turned his head around to face his friend on the other side of the room, "do you have any more pictures like these?"  
She was a bit shocked at his question. "Yeah I have tons, why?"  
"Mind if we see them?" he asked as he placed the frame back in its spot on the shelf.  
Sam gave him a small smile and stood up. "Sure, just give me a few minutes to go get them…actually, I can show them to you guys on the t.v. if that's alright."  
"Fine by me" Raph cut in, "but you gotta tell me how to use these remotes."  
"Oh I got you bro!" Mikey said.  
"Get that part set up for me and I'll be back in a minute." Sam then turned and walked back out of the room and headed towards her bedroom.  
The boys made sure they heard her door shut before they began speaking.  
"Well, she seems to be handling things pretty well so far" Donnie said right before taking a sip of his drink and sitting down in the recliner.  
"I think she's just happy that she's not alone anymore" Mikey said as he sat upright on the couch.  
"Sucks about her brother" Raph said defensively, his eyes aimed at the floor. "I'd quit if I worked at a place like that."  
"She's made it known before that his job is oddly unique to their situation, plus without it he wouldn't have been able to get this apartment, which is actually really spacious for being an apartment" Leo stated.  
"Just remember, we have to be careful with what we say to her and MAN I CAN'T WAIT FOR THE PLAYOFFS IN A FEW MORE DAYS" Mikey stated, gradually increasing the volume of his tone as he spoke.  
His brothers all gave him a weird look until literally a second after the words left his lips they heard the bedroom door open and instantly they all caught on, and also wondered how the hell he knew that was about to happen.  
"Yeah I hear it's one of the most anticipated sporting events this year" Raph added.  
"Sucks it won't be a home game though" Donnie announced.  
Then Sam entered the room and walked over to the television where she plugged in her flash drive to a port on the back. She turned around and saw all the guys quietly staring at her. She gave them a weird look and laughed.  
"You guys realize you don't have to stop talking just because I enter the room right?" she chuckled.  
"We're just waiting for the pictures to show up" Mikey replied with a smile.  
"Well that's not going to happen until you hit the button on the remote" she said playfully.  
Mikey looked at her, and then at the remote, and then back to her. "I knew that, I was just testing you" he said as he pointed the remote at her and then he hit the last button to get the slideshow set up.  
"Hey Leo, are you going to watch from over there?" Sam asked as she then turned towards him with a playful yet questioning look.  
He then realized that he was still standing by the door and then walked over and sat between Sam and Raph on the couch.  
Sam caught Leo about to put his feet up (leaning to the side some so that he could share the extended part of the couch where Raph was sitting) which she didn't mind, but he still had his shoes on.  
"If any of you put your shoes on the couch, I'll kick your ass" she said facing the t.v. with a playful yet maniacally gentle smile.  
The boys tried not to laugh at the way she said what she just had, and she caught onto this as well.  
"You guys think I'm joking?" she said, pretending to sound tough.  
"Oh no we know you're not, and that's why we're not taking any chances" Donnie replied.  
"Who's that?" Raph asked as the slideshow started.  
"Oh that's Jay's family. I organized all the pictures in chronologically ordered groups, so it might take a little while before we actually see me, since Jay and his siblings were around for a good while before my oldest sibling was even born."  
"What's the age gap again?" Raph asked.  
"Well, between me and Chuck and then me and Haley is a two year gap, with Nick a 4 year gap, with Brian a 5 year gap, with Jay a 7 year gap, with Amber a 9 year gap, and with Jamie a 11 year gap. So yeah, they were all around for a while before I even came into the picture" Sam said with a laugh.  
"That's cool that you guys were all so close though, even with the age gaps" Leo stated.  
"Well, all of our parents happened to be only kids and had wanted larger families growing up, and obviously they all go what they wanted. Point being, our two families were all we really had, so in a sense we grew up like cousins before we legally became family. Oh, this is the part with all the birth pictures" she said as pictures of the groups when the next child were born were displayed across the screen. A picture of an Asian baby girl came up first, then one with her and another Asian baby girl, then those two and an Asian baby boy, and then all those kids with another Asian baby boy. Each picture showed the siblings group grow larger and larger as the next newborn child was added to the family.  
"That's Nick right?" Mikey asked when a picture came up with a small white skinned baby boy carefully being held by a young Asian girl with three other Asian children surrounding them.  
A huge smile grew across Sam's face. "Yup, that's him. And then here's Haley!" she exclaimed as the next photo came up, each child from the previous photos a couple of years older in the upcoming photo. "Oh if only she knew that dorky boy staring at her wouldn't leave her alone for the rest of her life" she said with a laugh.  
"Brian?" Mikey asked. "They're the two that liked each other, right?"  
Sam nodded her head. "Yeah that's them."  
"Geez, he looks like a baby playboy with the look he's giving her in that photo, and he's only what, 3 years old?" Raph questioned.  
"Ohhhh trust me, we never let him live that down once we found this photo. We also joked with him that destiny was set on that day."  
"They liked each other that much?" Leo said with a smile, finding the idea of these two being soulmates from birth quite adorable and romantic, though he'd never admit it.  
"110%. They were inseparable. If they had the chance to be in the same group or to team up as partners for ANYTHING, then I would bet my life on the chance that those two were working together. A three year difference didn't mean anything to those two and they made that very clear their entire lives."  
"Yet he has his hands all over you in this photo" Raph teased as the pictures kept going, the current one being at what seemed to be a playground.  
"Naw there's a difference" Sam said with a small laugh, "here he's just being protective as we go down the slide. I'll have to give it to all my brother's, they're all the biggest dorks you'll ever meet, but they looked out for all of us, even that pudgy two year old right there" she said as a lone picture of Chuck came up.  
The group continued to watch the pictures as they re-lived Sam's life with her. They saw her at birthday parties, sporting events, family day trips, all types of events and activities where she was with her family. Their favorite part was when a few pictures came up of Haley and Jamie doing Sam's make-up and they made her look extremely girly as they covered her in pink everything. They found it even more hilarious that Sam looked as annoyed and disgusted sitting next to them as she did in the picture. The pictures continued on with everyone looking cute as younger kids, and eventually the people in the pictures slowly began to grow older and older, showing the years and years of memories that were shared amongst the family. As they got closer to the end of the slideshow and were now watching the last so many pictures Sam had from the year that the majority of her siblings sadly passed away, the turtles quickly went from feeling cheery and joyful at seeing all the happy moments that their friend had experienced with her family, to feeling sorrowful and depressed. In these final pictures, Sam was only 12 years old. They saw pictures of her and Chuck just beginning their trainings, of the siblings just graduating high school (which many still had yet to do) and just begin their lives as young adults, of the hobbies that the siblings would have wanted to eventually turn into careers, etc. So many photos of lives that were just beginning, only for them to be over so soon. They didn't like that this was where the journey ended, that after this it would only be pictures of Sam and Jay because this is where the rest of the family would move on from this world. They had loved getting to know each of the siblings and their relationship with Sam in each of the photos. They loved seeing Jamie and Haley be the goofy sisters that teased Sam and loved to be typical girly girls, seeing Amber be her best friend and introduce her to dancing and sports and give her the confidence to be the tomboy that she wanted to be, seeing Jay yell and watch over her like a second father, seeing Brian be the goofy older brother that instigated her and taught her how to be funny and pull pranks while also protecting her and teaching her how to be a respectful person, seeing Nick also be her sports buddy and guardian and role model while making sure she knew how to stand up to bullies and take care of herself as well, and seeing Chuck be her right hand man who followed her lead no matter what the two did and always compete with her even though they both did so out of fun. Within the couple of hours the turtles had joined her in looking through the photos of the past, they had learned so much about this family that they wished they could have met them, and that's when it hit them: if they were now so interested in meeting this family, Sam must be dying inside. Sam had lived every second of her life with these people close by, and every moment that she had ever had with these siblings, she would never be able to re-create them. Her family was gone, and now only her and Jay remained, and tonight proved that even that was a rare occasion. As these thoughts filled their heads, the slideshow then ended.  
Sam looked at the faces of the turtles surrounding her and she smiled as she took a deep breath and sighed. "Guys, it's alright."  
They all stopped their thoughts in their tracks and stared at her, sorrow in each of their expressions.  
"This happened four years ago, I've gotten a lot better at getting back to a daily routine. Some days are more difficult than others, but I know they would have wanted me to keep fighting and moving on with life. Heh, I can picture what they would all say to me if they visited me right now and saw me sulking."  
"But, how can you just live on knowing you'll never get any of those moments back?" Raph asked aloud in a calm tone. As soon as the words left his lips, he felt the stares from his brothers as he realized what he had just asked and that this could upset his friend. Sam however knew him long enough to know that Raph was asking this in a concerned and heartfelt manner, and just like she had been all that night, she was able to respond in a gentle and heartfelt manner as well.  
"One day one of my shit ton of counselors and therapists asked me if I thought my siblings were still with me. Of course at that time I gave her nothing but sarcastic remarks, but she continued to make comments about how they were really still with me whether I believed it or not. I'm not gonna lie, this was the original reason I started doing really stupid reckless stuff. I had this whole 'oh if they're really with me then they'll keep me safe' type attitude, but I knew the reason I had been safe was because of all of the trainings I had gone through, so once I mellowed out I started to change my mindset some. Instead of assuming they were just with me which is what everyone always says, I set out looking for a purpose in life, something that would change the daily routine that I was forced to keep returning to. Instead of thinking my siblings were already with me, I kept asking for them to prove they were really there. I lived with that mindset for about a year, and sometimes I would get signs that seemed like I was being pointed in different directions, and one of those signs led to the glasses that I built that could detect the scanners that eventually led me to meeting you guys. So, I feel like they've been looking out for me all along, and even led me to others who were like them" she said with a smile as she looked back up at her friends, each of them with their eyes wide and their eyebrows raised.  
"You think your siblings wanted you to meet us because we're like them?" Leo asked.  
She laughed. "Oh come on guys, you can't honestly tell me you didn't see yourselves in those pictures at least once!"  
The boys thought back to the pictures and picked out moments where they did think that what they saw was something that either they or one of their other brothers would do.  
"I haven't acted the ways I have with you guys since I lost my family, and Raph even had one of my brother's weapons! What are the odds of that being just a coincidence?"  
Donnie shrugged. "Well, the saying is that 'everything happens for a reason,' right?"  
"I like that saying" Mikey said with a large smile on his face.  
"Looks like your siblings found the right families to pair together" Raph said with a smile, to which the rest of his brothers also nodded in agreement.  
Raph then stood up and began to exit the room.  
"Where are you going?" Donnie asked.  
"Looks like a turtle can't go to the bathroom in peace, thanks Don" Raph said as he flicked his brother on the side of the head.  
"Obviously you've forgotten that nothing is nonchalant in this group" Sam said with a smile.  
"Obviously I did" he teased as he then left the room. 

Just then the phone rang. Sam signaled to the others to stay silent and they all nodded in response. She picked up the phone and saw that there was no number, so she was surprised to hear Jay's voice on the other line.  
"Jay?"  
_"*sob* hey Sam…"_  
"What's wrong?" She could feel the concerned stares from her friends as they waited to hear what came next.  
_"I…I won't be able to make it home tonight…it's this project we have to work on…I'm sorry Sam. I'm so, so very sorry"_ he choked out through his sobs.  
"Hey Sam-" Raph said and then paused as he saw her with a phone up to her ear and his brothers once again sending him death glares. He mouthed the word 'sorry' as he cringed, knowing that he could have gotten her in trouble some how.  
_"Who was that?"_ Jay asked in a serious yet worried tone.  
"A friend from school" Sam quickly replied with wide eyes.  
_"Was that a guy? There's a guy at the house when you're alone?"_  
"Um, let's circle back to you not coming home since that's way more important."  
The turtles each then sighed, each one pissed that Jay was continuing to fail their friend.  
_"Trust me I know, every year they give me this time off no matter how busy we are, it's literally my one and only request…but this year things just didn't pull through. I'm so sorry I left you home all alone Sam, I know it doesn't mean anything but I'll never forgive myself for this."_ Jay continued to cry into the phone. He was so loud that even the turtles could hear him.  
Sam could tell that there was nothing her brother could have done and tried to be gentle with him, even though she was extremely upset herself. "Jay, did you do everything that you could to take off?" she asked calmly.  
_"Of course I did! It's you and me to the end Sam, and you know that I would never leave you alone. I'd be by your side right now if I could. I'm being mentally tortured knowing that you're home by yourself."_  
This hurt Sam some, and she decided to tell a white lie to her brother to help ease his pain some. "I'm not home alone. I became closer to some people towards the end of the school year and I invited them over since you weren't sure when you would be home. So don't worry, I'm much better this year than I have been in past ones."  
_"Are they-"_  
"Don't worry they're all girls! Geez, even when you're not here you're my annoying older brother" she said as she rolled her eyes. She smiled as she heard Jay laughing through the phone at her comment, and she was glad that she was able to cheer him up some. She was about to finish up the call when she felt the phone being ripped from her hands. She quickly turned to see Raph take the phone and hold it up to the side of his head.  
"Hey, Jay right?"  
_"Yeah…"_ Jay replied with an angered pause.  
"Hi this is Officer Simmons. I dropped my younger sister off at your place earlier tonight and I just stopped by to pick her back up. I happened to hear your conversation with Sam and I have an offer for you, IF you're alright with it, and if not then I'll back down."  
Everyone was giving Raph a strange look, but he just held his finger up to his lip for them to be quiet as he continued to smile.  
_"Alright, go on"_ Jay replied.  
"Earlier Sam mentioned that she visits the cemetery each year on this day. A few of my boys are downstairs in their cruisers. If you're okay with it, we could take Sam to visit her siblings before it gets too late. I also heard it was a tradition though, so I understand if you say no."  
Sam's eyes went wide after Raphael spoke. She never in a million years would have expected those words to come out of his mouth, and she was almost about to cry after she finally heard her brother respond through the phone.  
_"Alright. Sadly I won't be able to take her tonight, so it would be nice if someone could. Thank you sir, I really appreciate this, and I'll do anything to make it up to you and your men."_  
"Heh, just make sure you're here with her next year" Raph said with a smile as he looked down at Sam who had her hands over her eyes and Leo's hand on her back, comforting her sine he knew she was fighting not to cry in front of them.  
_"Oh trust me, I'll be there next year"_ Jay said in a randomly stern tone.  
Raph didn't know the meaning behind it, but he just went with it as he finished up the call.  
"I always knew you were a teddy bear under all that muscle" Mikey teased.  
"Shut up" Raph said as he lifted his leg and, without a huge amount of force, kicked his brother who was still sitting on the couch.  
"Thank you" Sam mumbled.  
Raph paused and turned towards his friend, forgetting about Mikey. He put his arm out to help his friend stand up. Once Sam had calmed herself, she took his hand and stood up.  
"Alright, I'll lead us to where the Autobots are hiding, Officer Simmons" she teased as she began to exit the room.  
Donnie snapped his fingers. "That's where he got that from! I knew it sounded familiar!"  
The group laughed as they then followed Sam out of the room and back to her bedroom window. Donnie put the coordinates into the GPS tracker he pulled from one of his tons of pockets, and once Sam was settled comfortably on Mikey's back, the group took off. 

***9:00p.m. Schimunek Cemetery*  
Themes:  
BTS-Butterfly Prologue Ver.  
Skrux-Being Human ft. Mona Moua  
TOP-Hi Haruka  
**

Sam walked forward towards the ten graves in front of her, talking to each one and updating them on her daily life.

"Annyeong haseyo (hello) Mr. and Mrs. Park. I know, I'm pissed that he's not here tonight either, but sadly things happen. I'll make sure to bring him here as soon as possible though. *sigh* it's not easy watching over him, especially when he's never home, but I'm doing my best to take care of him so that you two can rest peacefully. Ugh, he's so annoying though. He's like way to over protective sometimes, but hey that just means you raised him right."  
She put her hands over the two plaques and gave them a small smile. "I miss you two. I got to know you the least out of the group, but in a long, long time, when I'm old and gray, I'll get my chance to reconnect with you. Take care of yourselves until then."  
She then moved over to another two graves. "Same thing to you two. Heh, it's funny. I think Jay is stricter than you two, but when I think back to it, he always watched how you guys parented us and I think he started acting like my older brother way before he even realized it, so you guys just sat back and let Jay yell at us instead" she said with a small laugh. "It's weird, you never think you'd miss arguing with your parents until you're never able to anymore. I love you guys, and I know that there's day where my behavior probably makes you roll over in your graves, so I'll make sure to take better care of myself for your sakes, and then you can yell at me again for my past behaviors when I join you guys, a lonnnnnnnng time from now."  
She then stood up from those two plaques and walked over to the last 6.  
"And then there's you guys. Well first of all, you!" she said as she pointed to one of the plaques, "you little shit! Na neun dang sin e hwaga! (I'm mad at you). What the hell was with you making me see you a few weeks ago at the basketball game?! Oh hey Amber *turning peacefully to face another gave* I finally started learning the rules to play basketball, you would have loved that, but YOU! *pointing back to the original grave* was that supposed to be your way of sending me a sign that you're still with me? Sim gag ha ge? (Seriously?) Aish, couldn't you be more subtle like Chuck? He led me back to his sai, and man I never thought I was going to see that thing ever again, but hey he led me back to it! But nooooooo, ani ani, (no, no) you had to be typical ole Brian and be as complicated as possible. Tsk, tsk. Chuck is younger than you, yet again he used his head more than you did."  
She then put her hands behind her head as tears began to slowly fill her eyes. "But knowing you, you've probably wanted to do that for a long time now, you were just waiting for the right moment. *sniff* you waited until I had the support I would need in order to see you again. *sniff* I know you all set me up. I've never cared about make-up, but Haley and Jamie, somehow you got me hooked on loving nail polish. Like I don't care about anything make-up wise, but god damn I love nail polish, and what are the odds that there would be an ad for new high tech glasses in the window of a make-up store? And then I'm sure Amber and Nick were the ones who decided I should see Brian at a basketball game, since that was always both of your favorite sports. And of course Chuck, you led me back to your weapon. That one's just too much of a coincidence. Heh, all this time you guys really were looking out for me. Like, I'm actually happy again because of where you led me. Hey asshole, I found another antique nerd, and thanks for teaching me how to cook. Thanks to you I'm actually able to teach others to cook now to. And Nick, I found another hot head just like you, and even better, he's a workout-aholic just like you to. And for the girls who were also the academic nerds, I found literally the nerdiest person in the world. You would have had a field day studying with this guy, and I'm sure you'd be learning as much information from him as your brains could possibly hold. And Chuck, I found someone who fights with the same weapon as you. Like seriously he fights so well with his nunchucks that I honestly don't know which of you two would win…I miss you all so much."  
With that, Sam brought her hand up to her mouth to try and hide the noises she made as she began sobbing. Her gaze was on the grave plaques in front of her as she spoke. "I know you all led me to these guys, and I love the new additions to my family…but still…bogo sip-eoyo. Hyeong je, ja mae. Saranghe (I miss you. Brothers, sisters. I love you). I miss you all so god damn much…"  
Sam then felt a hand on her shoulder and she could tell that it was Mikey who had walked over and was trying to silently comfort her. She could sense how much he was hurting as he just listened to his best friend breakdown into tears, and she held onto his hand as it continued to rest on her shoulder.  
"Some days are harder than others, but overall everything is better now. I have these guys, so everything is better now. I love you guys. Rest well, until the day where I'm able to goof off with all of you again."  
Sam then turned around and basically walked into Mikey. It was her way of giving him the O.K. to take care of her, and he did just that as he quickly wrapped his arms around her, a few tears of his own slipping out.  
As Sam continued to let her friend hold her, not wanting him to let go, she sensed the other three walk past them and towards the graves. Sam never expected the turtles to talk to them, and it made her cry even more to hear their words.  
"Heh, I would have loved to have seen you kick butt kid. I saw the pictures of you holding your weapons, and geez for a little 10 year old you really looked badass. Would have loved to have met ya" Raph said as he stood in front of Chuck's grave.  
"Thanks for being the reason I know how to cook" Leo chuckled as he stood in front of Brian's grave, "you can teach me about your Korean culture and I'll teach you about the Japanese, we'll talk as we go antique shopping one day."  
Donnie walked over towards the girls plaques. "If you ever have questions, one day I'll tell you all the answers. Can't wait to meet you at our study date" he said with a smile.  
"Heh, and one day we'll challenge you two to a round of basketball" he said with a softmpH laugh as he then walked over towards Amber and Nick's graves.  
Raph followed behind and looked down at Nick's plaque. "So, I hear you're a hot head, must mean you're an attractive guy as well."  
"Pffft!" Sam said as she covered her mouth as she tried to hide her laughter.  
Mikey smiled, happy to see his friend calming herself down and feel cheery again, while the others brothers rolled their eyes at Raph.  
"What's important is that you don't let your temper get in the way of taking care of your family, and it sounds like you always knew when to ignore that temper and when you needed to focus more on being a family provider, and for that you have my respect man" Raph said with a smile as he looked down at the plaque.  
As the brother's continued to talk to the members of their friend's family, Mikey slowly took his hands off of Sam and walked over and crouched down in front of Amber's grave, placing a hand on it as he spoke. "I hear you're the one who had the most personal influence on my best friend, that you're the one who told her that she should be proud of the things she's interested in, the way she likes to dress, things like that. Thank you, because I don't know if we would be best friends if she wasn't perfect the way she is. Thank you for encouraging her to be her. I know you all would rather be here to take care of her, and as much as I would miss her since we probably wouldn't have ever met, I'd rather it be all of you here to take care of her as well. But, because of the cruel and strange paths this world has led us all down, it's us who are watching her now and I swear on my life that we won't let anything bad ever happen to her again. She's with us now, and I promise that we'll all take good care of her. Our families are one now, and we'll make sure to keep it that way."  
The four brother's soon finished up with their words to the various family members, and soon it was time for all of them to head home.  
"Thanks again for this guys, I don't think I'll ever be able to thank you enough for this" Sam said, wiping away the last of the stains from the tears that had finally cleared away.  
"That's what family's for" Raph said, gently nudging her shoulder.  
"Sooooooo?" Mikey asked with excitement.  
Sam rolled her eyes and smiled. "Yes, sleepover at my house."  
"ALRIGHT! Let's go!" Mikey said as he crouched down so that his friend could jump onto his back.  
She did so with glee and the energetic turtle sprinted off into the night.  
"Dibs on making breakfast!" Leo called out as he chased after them.  
Raph was about to run as well, but he saw Donnie staring off into space.  
"Dorkatello, you coming or what?" he said as he waved his hand in front of his brother's face.  
Donnie blinked. "Hmm? Oh! Sorry, I was just thinking…"  
"Yeah?" Raph said, motioning for his brother to keep talking.  
"I wonder if Sam has any pictures of us, I mean she always has her phone with her whenever she hangs out with us. I just thought of something I could do if I got ahold of those pictures."  
Raph smiled, knowing his brother was coming up with a heartfelt idea. But for now he just wanted to get home and worry about hanging out with his family, and with that the final two members of the group ran off and quickly joined the others. 

***Thursday, July 31****st****. down in the lair*  
**

April was heading down to the lair. She had no idea what was going on, but she was told to meet everyone in the living room, so that's where she was heading. Just then, she heard footsteps quickly coming up behind her.  
"APRIL! Glad you could make it!" Sam shouted after running up and then jumping in front of her friend.  
"Sam, I see you're energetic as always" she said with a chuckle.  
The two walked together towards the lair, a route that they now both knew like the back of their hands.  
"Hehe, sorry. Coach has had us doing all types of crazy intense drills, so I've been drinking both water bottles and Gatorade, but the jug ran out today since there was a complication with the water fountains at the park, so I've been drinking my sugary sports drinks."  
"They're sugary drinks that are meant for athletes though, right?"  
"Yes, but they're as bad as candy if you drink them and then don't exercise right after. I basically drank a full bottle, and then coach decided to be nice and let us end practice early, so I'm JAM PACKED WITH ENERGY!" the girl exclaimed.  
"Oh I'm sure Mikey will love that, since you're his energetic competition." 

After a couple more minutes, the girls finally entered the lair. The turtles and Splinter were all relaxing by the television, except for Raph and Mikey that is, who were once again wrestling with each other. Raph won this time, and Mikey was shoved backwards, falling onto his back and right at Sam's feet as she entered the room.  
"Wow, I'm embarrassed to call you my teacher, tsk tsk" she said, mockingly shaking her head.  
Mikey ignored this and instead focused on the fact that his best friend had arrived earlier than expected.  
"Sam! You're not supposed to be here" he said as he held his arm up.  
"I see I've been missed" she teased, walking around and reaching down and helping pull her friend up off the floor.  
"HAHA. You know what I meant" he replied as he was quickly pulled off the ground thanks to both of their strength.  
April looked at the younger girl in shock. She knew that Sam had some muscle to her, but seeing Sam's muscles bulge like that when helping her much larger friend off the ground was a bit intimidating. She hadn't even flinched or lost her balance in any way when helping him either, she had truly used her muscle to help Mikey get up, and to April that was incredible for a girl of her age and size to be able to do that. She was even more shocked that this must have become a routine sight for the others since no one brought it to light.  
"Why are you here so early?" Leo asked as he stood up from the couch.  
"Coach was ever so kind and let us leave practice early. He wanted us to relax some before we leave, since our practices up until Monday when the tournament begins are going to be a bitch."  
"Samantha" Splinter groaned.  
"Language, right. Sorry Sensei, hehe" she said nervously.  
"Alright! Everyone's here, so let's show them what we've been working on!" Mikey exclaimed, racing out of the living room and into the sewer ways.  
"This better be worth my time" Raph groaned as he also got up and off of the couch.  
"Don't worry, you're knitting needles will be here when you get back" Sam said, cupping her cheeks like she was staring at a little baby.  
"Heh, you weren't teasing me when you couldn't fix your pants. In fact, from what I remember, you made them worse" Raph stated, crossing his arms over his chest.  
"That…is a very good point. I'll use this motivation tactic instead" she said as she motioned to slap him, but at the last second missed on purpose, but it was still enough to tick him off.  
"Aww Sam, you forgot that that makes him freeze up. Now we have to wait another five minutes for him to move" Donnie teased, punching his brother in the arm.  
That added fuel to the fire. Sam and Donnie fist bumped and the two took off, Raph chasing them from behind.  
Leo and Splinter rolled their eyes as April laughed. "Huh, so that's what energy drinks do to Sam."  
"Yeah, and that's what an energetic Sam does to Donnie" Leo sighed.  
"Don't act like you don't enjoy this my son" Splinter stated with a smirk.  
Leo shrugged with a smile on his face. "Well, having them around does keep one on their toes." 

The remaining three left through the exit right by the t.v. and went straight down a hallway and then made a right. They found the others, and somehow Raph had all three in a headlock, until Sam squirmed her way out. By then she had seen the last three join them and called a truce.  
"You don't get to just magically call truce! That's not how it works!" Raph shouted.  
"I'm leaving later this afternoon, so it's my rules!" Sam shouted with a wicked grin.  
"Bullshit!"  
"Raphael! Language!" Splinter yelled.  
"Sorry Sensei" Raph groaned. "OW!" Raph felt a slight pain in his right hand and looked up at Sam who had just swung her leg up and kicked his right hand.  
She shrugged. "Sorry dude, you were killing your brothers there."  
Raph then realized that he had never let his brothers out of their headlocks and that he had unintentionally been suffocating them.  
"Oops, my bad" he said nervously.  
"Can you tell us why we're all here now?" Leo asked, a bit annoyed. He had better things to do than to just watch everyone fight each other all day.  
"Yes! Mikey, do you want to explain or should I?" Sam asked.  
"Oh I'll do it!" He then ran over towards where the opening is. "Family members, when you look at this wall, what do you see?" he asked, making weird hand gestures the whole time he talked.  
"GET ON WITH IT!" Raph yelled.  
"I'm getting some signals from the audience that I should speed things up, so I'll tell you now that this is not just a wall, but" he then kicked down the space where the duo had carefully placed the loose bricks, "a doorway."  
The other brother's eyes went wide, not expecting the bricks to just collapse the way they did. Donnie, who was always the first one to question any situation and want to learn about its details as soon as possible, was the first to run through the doorway and see what was inside. He was shocked to see a basketball hoop a few more feet above the top of the entry way and that the rest of the room was made of smooth and solid concrete. Raph walked in behind him, and his eyes trailed over to the giant blow up obstacle course that was on the other side of the room. Splinter and April entered the room next, and they were shocked, spinning in circles as they realized how large this room truly was. Finally, Leo walked in, and the first thing he noticed was the second doorway all the way at the near left corner of the room. He then walked over there and his jaw dropped as he saw the well put together skate park that had been built inside the room, with a rock wall that scaled all along the left side of the wall. The rest of the family followed soon after, each of them displaying similar facial expressions as Leo had.  
"Oh my god there's another one?" Donnie questioned as he then jogged over to another entry way in the nearest left corner of that room.  
As he then entered that last room, he was completely mind blown to see that this room was obviously the largest of the three, and that there was a very short go-kart track AND actual go-karts in this room, and then on the far side of that room were some batting cages and of course one shooting cage with a goal where Sam could practice her shots as well, and all along the wall straight ahead and even in front of it were tons of trampoline squares.  
"My children…how did you ever discover all of this?" Splinter asked in amazement.  
"Heh, I guess I should thank Leo for sending me to the Hashi" Sam teased, leaning on Leo.  
He pursed his lips together and looked down at her. "I'm sorry, what?"  
"Remember? I lost my race with Raph, so you sent me to the Hashi to do…splits" she whispered with a shudder.  
"That still doesn't explain all this" he said, shooting her a confused look.  
"My legs felt like noodles afterwards, and when I went to lean against the wall for support, the wall gave out. I introduced my discovery to Mikey a few days later and we got to work, and this is the final product. Took us roughly two months, but totally worth every second of time spent working on this project" Sam said, nodding in approval of what she and her friend had created.  
"This…this is actually...pretty incredible" Raph said in amazement.  
"Heh, I guess someone" April said as she ruffled Sam's hair "finally told Mikey that you guys live underneath an amusement park."  
"How long were you guys going to hide that from me?!" Mikey exclaimed.  
"Oh you would have been begging for us to take you up there every second of every day and you know it" Leo called out.  
Mikey paused, and then nodded with a smile, finding it funny how well his brothers knew him. 

**Themes:  
Kelly Clarkson-Heartbeat Song  
Tim Berg-Seek Bromance  
Martin Garrix-Pizza  
Steve Aoki & Louis Tomlinson-Just Hold On  
Boys Like Girls-The Great Escape  
**

"Soooo, are we going to test this stuff out or not?" April asked, actually very excited to join her family in these activities. She then felt Sam pulling in her arm.  
"Great question! We'll answer that by having a race!"  
Sam led April back towards the first of the three rooms where the blow up obstacle course was.  
The course consisted of a large round opening you had to pass through, then there were a few green inflatable pillars you had to push through, then there were three yellow inflatable beams you had to either jump or crawl through, and then to finish you had to climb up an inflatable rock wall with small red squares until you reached the top where you would then slide back down to the other side.  
Splinter leaned against the wall and watched as the 'children' got ready to race each other.  
"Hajime!" he called out, and the race began.  
April, Leo, and Raph made up one team, and Donnie, Mikey, and Sam made up the other.  
Donnie dived into the opening of the course, whereas April climbed over, knowing she would flop on her face if she tried diving like that.  
As the two then started pushing their way through the pillars, Mikey and Leo began their part of the race, both diving through the opening…and getting stuck due to their large sizes. Donnie was already too far ahead to come back and help, so Sam real quick jumped over top and helped pull Mikey through. Luckily Leo was able to pull himself through in time, and Raph quickly climbed over top. Sam dived out, and then dived back through the opening. She tried to get up as quickly as possible, not that it mattered though since Mikey had tackled Leo where the pillars were, and there was no way to get past them. To everyone's shock, April had come back and pushed Mikey off of Leo. Leo was able to move through quickly, so Sam started kicking the pillars towards Raph in attempt to slow him down. Mikey was then able to squeeze by, but then Raph threw his weight onto the pillars and was now using them to pin Sam down. She tried to call for help, but she was laughing too much to succeed in doing so.  
Meanwhile, Donnie and April were working on passing through the inflatable beams. April and Sam were the only ones who were thin enough to climb through them with ease, so while April did so, Donnie leap and cannon balled onto the other side.  
April lost her balance and fell down thanks to the ground moving so much after Donnie landing his canon ball.  
"Tch, ninjas" April teased.  
She then felt herself being lifted up as Mikey, carefully, lifted her up and tossed her back over the beams where she had originally started climbing through.  
"Wow, that's messed up!" she called out with a smile as Mikey laughed from the other side.  
Leo then came forward and kneeled down and cupped his hands together. April nodded and stepped up, and that quickly she had been lifted back over to the other side, and Leo leaped over behind her not long after.  
"Climb on?" Leo asked, not wanting to force April into doing what he wanted, but more so wanting to hint that if she wanted to win then climbing on his back and letting him climb for two would help put them in the lead.  
"Heck yeah" she said, and she quickly climbed onto his back. By the time Donnie was halfway up the wall, Leo had already caught up with him, and with April on his back, they were now two people ahead of the other group.  
"Tch, ninjas" Mikey and Donnie teased simultaneously.  
At the end of the race, Raph had eventually run away from a pinned down Sam and tried to leap over the beams, but Sam was quick and had dived through as he was leaping over. They both started making their way up the wall, until Sam had swung her leg over and knocked Raph down.  
He stood back up and shook his head with a smile. "Oh, so that's how it's gonna be? Two can play at that game."  
He jumped up and grabbed onto Sam, pulling her down with him. She tried to stand back up and catch up, but it was hard to catch her footing when the course kept moving so much, that and she was still smiling a lot which made it harder to see through her squinted laughing vision. She saw Raph climbing quickly, but what neither of them had seen was Mikey who had been hiding out at the top of the slide, waiting for his friend to catch up. As Raph neared the top of the wall, Mikey grabbed his brothers wrists and gave him a wicked smile while shouting "long live the king!" and then threw Raph's wrists back and away from the wall. Sam swung to the side so that Raph couldn't pull her down with him, and then grabbed onto the arm that was now leaning down in front of her. Mikey quickly but carefully pulled and swung her up and Sam slid right on down the slide with Michelangelo right behind her. Seconds later Raph slid down behind them.  
"I hate to admit it, but that was clever" he said as he threw an arm around his baby brother's shoulder.  
"I have my moments" Mikey said with pride. 

After a few more rounds of this, the group then decided to head over to where the go-karts were. The track wasn't that long and basically just went around in a giant circle, but it was also a slick track, making it twice as fun as a regular course. Sam and Mikey had taken all the go-karts they could get their hands on from the old amusement park area and were lucky enough to get their hands on about 10 cars.  
Everyone got into their cars and once the girls got their hair tied back they all started to drive. Sam and Mikey knew how to use the slick track, so as soon as they got to that first curve they turned hard and made their cars turn completely around. This was fun for them, but it threw everyone else off guard. Donnie didn't want to hit Mikey head on and when he turned he slid a bit towards where the trampolines were.  
"Geez Donnie learn how to drive" Mikey teased as he started to drive away.  
Donnie got his car back on track and zoomed away to catch up to his brother. By that time Leo and Raph had also figured out how to make their cars spin the same way, and it soon became a competition to see who could cut others off the most. Raph sped up and was about to twist and turn right in front of Sam which would have made her have to try and drive around him, but April suddenly appeared and, unintentionally, cut him off instead.  
"Sorry!" April called out as she covered her mouth in a playfully apologetic way, laughing the entire time.  
"You're gonna pay for that" Raph said as he pointed towards her, pretending to act serious, though he couldn't hide his smile.  
Just then, Mikey drove up and parked his kart in front of Raph.  
"Now's your chance, escape angel cakes!" he shouted.  
April laughed as she sped away, and Raph was left to figure out how to get around Mikey. Every time Raph backed up, so did Mikey. Raph waited until Leo came around and then sped up alongside his elder brother, and this time it was he who got stuck behind Mikey, and Raph was free. Leo looked at Mikey and the two nodded before speeding away and trying to catch up with Raph, hoping to once again cut him off and then get back in the lead. The three then had to come to a stop as they came across three karts side by side. Somehow, Sam and April had sandwiched Donnie in between them, and he was struggling to get past him.  
"Come on Don! You're blocking the road!" Mikey called out.  
"Well you're the one who blocked the road earlier when messing with Raph, and then I got stuck here!"  
"Beep beep I'm a jeep!" Mikey exclaimed as he carefully hit the back of Sam's kart.  
"Hey! The sign says no bumping!" Sam said with a smile.  
"Go forth brother!" Mikey shouted, and that fast Donnie was speeding away.  
"Sam, you let your guard down!" April called out.  
Soon after, Raph and Leo sped by and turned just in time to just miss hitting April's kart.  
"Excuse me!"  
"Coming through!" they shouted. 

The group continued on with this for a little while longer until the karts soon began to run out of gas. Sam's was the first to go, so she carefully parked her kart where it belonged, unbuckled herself, and then ran over towards the trampolines. She then ran over to Splinter who had been leaning along the wall happily watching his family.  
"Come on Sensei, even you can jump on a trampoline" she said with a smile.  
Splinter nodded his head and took his time walking after the girl who had excitedly ran away to the trampolines. Sam and Mikey had laid out the trampolines so that it looked like a section from a modern day Skyzone. Sam began jumping as high as she could and start hopping down the line of trampolines. Splinter was careful when walking onto the trampolines, but once he started bouncing, he too wanted to see how high he could go. He was soon startled by Donatello who sporadically leapt onto the trampoline in front of his father (after carefully putting his kart away of course).  
"Whoa, this is awesome!" he said as he practically soared above the other two. He was already the tallest of the group and the trampolines were just making him even taller.  
"Hehe, careful my son" the old rat chuckled, happy to see his sons kick back and have some fun.  
"Samantha, what does this higher trampoline do?" Splinter asked as he pointed to the slightly inclined trampoline that reached up higher along the wall.  
"It's used for this" she said as she jumped high up and onto the sideways trampoline which then launched her outwards and back onto her original space.  
"That's nothing, watch this!" Mikey shouted. He ran over and leapt up, and soon after he hopped down towards Sam he did the same thing, but he did a backwards flip and landed on his shell on the sideways trampoline, and then flipped forwards so that he was standing on his feet again.  
"Nice!" Sam said, giving him a high five.  
"Help me up" April said to Mikey. He carefully walked along the side cushions to where she was and carefully helped lift her up to where the trampolines were. Leo and Raph soon joined the group as well, and then everybody was bouncing on the trampolines.  
Sam was bouncing next to Mikey when she decided it was time to mess with her best friend.  
"Hey Mikey" Sam called out.  
"Yeah?" As he turned around to face her, Sam had already jumped up high and bounced off the inclined trampoline and then launched herself onto her friend, tackling them both onto the trampoline he was standing on.  
"Ha! That's for making us lose Donnie earlier!"  
"I'll avenge you Mikey!" Donnie said as he started bouncing over towards where the other two were.  
"Gotta catch me first!" Sam called as she went to do a backflip…and failed epically. "Nope" she said as she soon flopped onto her back. When she looked up, Donatello was already standing beside her. "Well, I think Mikey's been avenged" he teased as he held his hand out to help her up.  
"Heh that looks fun" Raph said as he then did the exact same thing Sam had done to Michelangelo.  
"Ughhhh come on dude, why is everyone after me today?" Mikey groaned.  
"Lameeeee!" Sam called out. "Come up with some original material."  
"You mean like that back flip you just did?" Raph mocked.  
"Hey, at least it was original" she shrugged.  
"Can you actually do a backflip?" Leo asked.  
Sam paused, trying to think back to the last time she had ever completed one. "Honestly, I have no idea. I learned how to complete one, but that was a decent ways back."  
"Lesson time!" Donnie called out.  
Each of the guys took turns demonstrating how to complete a backflip, and then it was Sam's turn to try again.  
"Remember, you have to let your body flow with the movements" Leo stated.  
Mikey was on standby in case Sam looked like she was falling at an angle that could harm her as she landed, and it's a good thing he stood where he did. Once Sam had gotten high enough off the ground, she went to flip her body backwards, but she tried moving backwards after she had reached her highest point rather than when she was still rising into the air, and because of this she was about to land right on her head, but Mikey caught her mistake and jumped across and caught her in time. As soon as he landed Sam was already trying to get back into position so that she could try again.  
"You're welcome" Mikey said sarcastically. Sam then turned back towards him and clapped her hands together in front of her, almost like she was about to bow to an elder.  
"Thank you so very much Michelangelo for not letting me fall to my doom."  
"Much better! And you're welcome" he said with a smile.  
Sam then started bouncing again, and this time she started her backflip at the right moment, and she landed perfectly on her feet. Sam then turned towards April, since she thought she hadn't teased her enough tonight.  
"Come on April, now it's your turn!"  
"Not a chance" April said bluntly.  
"Awww come on, you're surrounded by a bunch of ninjas! You should learn some moves. Like hey here's an easy one" Sam said as she bounced really high onto the angled trampoline and then quickly forced herself downward at an angle as she tackled Raph to the ground.  
Raph growled as he then chased after a laughing Sam.  
"Yeah that's a great move to learn, you know, if I wanted to die today" April said with a sarcastic expression, shaking her head at the crazy teen as she watched her get caught, picked up, and then tossed onto the angled trampoline by Raphael.  
"You know, these trampolines actually make it a bit easier to learn some already simple moves" Donnie said as he faced April.  
"*sigh* alright, teach me something simple" April said as she stood up.  
"Front roll!" Sam called out as she then provided an example of how to do so on the longer trampoline strip. She accidentally leaped back upwards a bit too forcefully though, and then accidentally tackled Leo.  
She pursed her lips together, wondering how he would react. He stared at her with a blank expression and calmly yet sternly said "run."  
Sam's eyes went wide as she then scrambled (laughing all the way) as far away from Leo as she could get.  
As Donnie and Mikey began teaching April how to do a basic frontwards roll, Leo ran up to and then (with just enough force) slammed Sam into the angled trampoline, and then pinned her to the ground on her stomach once they both landed on the ground trampoline.  
"Okay, okay you win!" she laughed out.  
"Oh I got it!" April called out as she then demonstrated a frontwards roll all by herself and then stood up with her arms in the air, just like a professional gymnast.  
"Heh, nice" Leo said with a smile.  
"I wouldn't know, I can't see!" Sam said as she was laying on her stomach and her head was turned in the opposite direction as Leo still had her pinned down. As Leo laughed and let her back up, she did however see Mikey throw his arm around April's shoulder as he also congratulated her on quickly learning the move.  
This made Sam feel a bit odd, since she was used to Mikey acting that way towards her and she wasn't used to seeing him act that way towards others, but she also knew that all the brothers were as close with her as they were with April, and she also knew that all the brothers had been teasing her and acting playfully towards her as well, so she shrugged it off and thought she was just being silly.  
"Um Samantha, your bag is glowing" Splinter said.  
Sam looked over against the opposite wall and saw in her bag was a glowing light, which meant that Jay was calling her. Sam ran over and answered the call, and as soon as she hung up she was throwing her bag over her back.  
"Leaving already? It's only 7:30" Raph stated.  
"Yeah, I have to wake up early tomorrow morning. Jay wants to beat the heavy traffic as we head to the tournament tomorrow. It's in Maryland so it's not too far away from here, but he also wants me to relax in the hotel some before I go through my crazy trainings."  
"When do those start?" Leo asked.  
"5:00p.m. tomorrow, and if coach finds out that you purposefully missed out, then he's benching you for as long as he can."  
"Then you best leave now my child and get a good night's rest to prepare for the long busy days ahead" Splinter said.  
"Got it Sensei, see you later guys! Remember to look for the game on the television!" Sam said as she started running out of the room.  
"You better kick butt or else we don't know you anymore!" Raph called out.  
"Dedicate your wins to your best friend!" Mikey shouted. 

***Minutes later above ground*  
**

Sam was now above ground and arrived at the spot where she and Jay agreed to meet. She spotted his car and ran over and quickly hopped into the passenger's seat.  
"How goes things my brotha from another…Jay?" Sam asked, quickly changing her energetic and excited expression to one of worry and concern.  
The way Jay was gripping onto the steering wheel made it seem like he thought letting it go would lead to the car falling apart. He was sweating, and his tan skin now looked much lighter and pale.  
"Jay…what's wrong?" Sam asked calmly.  
He started hyperventilating as he began to speak. "There's…there's some things I need to tell you, and how you react to them is your decision. Please just know that I never meant to hurt you or anyone else and I've always loved and tried my best to protect you and everyone else in our family."  
"You're scaring me" Sam stated. "Are we under attack?"  
"In a sense. Don't worry the cars not bugged, but there's a lot that I need to tell you. If you hate me afterwards, well, I don't blame you. But I'm giving you the option to act however you would like to after I tell you this, okay?"  
"Yeah…okay…" 

Jay then told Sam a lot of news that shocked her and shook her to her core. She felt hurt and she was pissed, but she knew none of it was her brother's fault, and this is what affected her final decision. She told Jay what she wanted to do and the two drove away, not realizing how much these decisions would change everyone's lives.

**Author's Note: I'm so very sorry to anyone who might be upset with me using Romanized terms for the Korean words instead of using Hangul characters. It's easier for me to add in the English letters than the Korean ones. If this upsets anyone then I truly am sorry because I know using Romanized characters to communicate is frowned upon by many, for typing purposes it was just much simpler for me. Also, if any of the terms are not 110% correct than again I'm truly sorry. I used a couple translating websites because as much as I want to one day learn this beautiful language I sadly do not speak it. Like it's literally on my bucket list and so is visiting South Korea, and not just the city of Seoul, though I would love to visit there for a while. Again, if any of this upsets anyone then I truly am sorry, but I love the idea of my white American female character knowing more than one language and the idea of her mixed family and I feel like ideas like this should be incorporated into modern television shows and movies more often, and this was one of my ways of doing so. Anyway, overall I hope everyone understands and enjoyed the chapter!**


	20. Chapter 20

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. **

Chapter #20

***Monday August 4****th****, about 8:00p.m. At the lair***

"Is it starting yet?" Raph called out as he was lifting weights over near the dojo.  
"No, still interviews" Mikey sighed. "I know she said it would be on later because they wanted to edit the footage before it was all aired live, but this is ridiculous."  
"Oh, that's the design of her uniform, right?" Leo asked.  
They were now watching a man on the t.v. screen wearing a zig zagged shirt and pair of shorts where one whole side was red and the other black, exactly like Sam's soccer uniform.  
"Oh that's her coach!" Mikey called out, a smile forming on his face, hoping he would now finally get a glimpse of his friend in action. The man was being interviewed and had just been asked about his team and their absence from this year's tournament.  
"Yeah, I know how much they all wanted to be here, they've been training…heh, they've been training sine last year's tournament. Last year we just missed getting our chance to move on to the next stage of the tournament, and my boys really wanted to avenge themselves from last year, but this crazy cruel world threw a lot of them some unfortunate curve balls within the past few days, literally days, and we had to cancel at the last minute. In honor of my team, I'm still here with the few teammates who were able to attend and we're going to scope out the competition for next year where we'll be ten times more prepared than we would have been, hehe."  
*Interviewer*: "I see you said your boys, does that include your female player?"  
The coach rolled his eyes. "Of course that includes my female player. She's a tomboy and would feel insulted if I didn't include her as one of the guys. She was one of the many who had some unfortunate curve balls thrown in her direction, and I know she was ready to kick butt again this year. *sigh* this world makes no sense to me. Why these kids were ripped away from such an incredible opportunity for reasons they couldn't even control is beyond me, but I hope these teams are all prepared for my boys next year, we'll be back and kicking!" 

The turtles sat in silence. They couldn't believe what they just heard.  
"Mikey…" Leo stated, his face frozen as he stared at the television screen from his seat on the couch.  
Mikey sat there speechless, and all he could do was shake his head.  
Leo and Donnie both looked at their brother who was sitting on the end of the couch and their eyes went wide as they witnessed Mikey's expression.  
"You mean you don't know anything about this?" Raph asked as he walked over and stood next to the flat screen. He had heard the news from the other side of the room and instantly became concerned with the situation.  
"She never told me anything. The last time we spoke was Thursday night right before she left. I assumed that she hadn't contacted me because she was busy practicing."  
"Call her now" Leo commanded.  
Mikey picked up his shell cell and dialed his friend's number…only to have it go straight to voicemail…three times in a row.  
Just then the police scanner went off. Officers could be heard talking about multiple robberies that had just occurred in the area but nothing was known about where the culprits went or where they were hiding.  
"We'll worry about Sam as soon as we get back, but we have to deal with this first" Leo stated.  
The brothers nodded and they all ran to grab any gear they thought they might need. 

***Moments later*  
**

Donnie was parking the truck in a dark alleyway where it would be hidden from any wondering eyes.  
"Alright, I hacked the cameras closest to the locations of where the robberies occurred and the footage shows all the culprit cars leading here. There seems to be about six different cars, four small and two larger trucks" Donnie stated.  
"Let's quietly look around and see if we can figure out where the thieves are hiding. Depending on the situation, maybe we can attack and tie them up and leave them here for the cops" Leo whispered to his brothers. They all nodded in agreement and the group soon exited the truck. They found a ladder along the side of the building and climbed up so that they would have a better view from the rooftops. The boys spread out some, looking for the trucks. It took a little while, but finally they were spotted.  
"There" Raph said, pointing downwards diagonally at a group of dark black vehicles that were slowly being driven through the back allies. The boys trailed the moving vehicles, using the shadows to hide their movements, and followed them to a large docking area. All six of the vehicles were there, and multiple people dressed in all black, including their masks, started getting out of the cars. Some had guns, and others had ninja tools attached to their outfits.  
"Foot soldiers" Leo whispered, "I wonder what they're up to this time."  
"This looks like an initiation" Donnie stated. "I've read articles about this. Just like how gangs have really messed up initiation rituals, the Foot will come up with various tasks that the newbies need to complete in order to be accepted into the group and to start earning Shredder's trust. This fits the description of past initiations that I read in those articles. The task is usually something stupid and pointless, but a crime must still be committed. They all meet up and then a superior comes and evaluates them all at one time. Those who pass get to return to headquarters, and those who fail or try to bail out are usually killed, and that's if they haven't already been caught by the police. We should see a leader come out soon."  
After a couple of minutes of the soldiers getting into groups and gathering their stolen materials, a soldier with a red band around their upper arm walked out of the lead car.  
"Looks like that's our guy" Mikey stated. "What do we do?"  
Leo quickly tried to think up a plan. "We're going to spread out and attack from all open sides. One side is useless to them because it's nothing but water, so that leaves three more sides. There are solid brick walls on their left and right sides, so the only way for them to escape is by leaving through the entrance where they drove in. They were trying to hide, but instead they cornered themselves in. There's about…28 of them total, so we should be able to handle them. Raph and I will block their exit, so Mikey and Donnie will attack form the sides. Got it?"  
"Got it" Mikey said with a nod.  
"Got it" Donnie said with a nod as well.

The boys all turned towards Raph. Leo waved his hand in front of his brother's face.  
"Raph, you with us?" he asked, frustration in his voice.  
"…what?"  
Leo bit his lip as he tried to keep his cool. "Do I need to tell you the plan again?"  
Raph quickly shook his head. "No. I know, you and me in the front and the other two attack from the sides. 28 of them so 7 for each of us. Sorry just…I thought I saw something, but I'm good."  
_"Heh, what the heck am I thinking. Hell, how could I ever even think that? There's no way…absolutely no way…right?" _Raph thought to himself as he and the others walked to their positions. He kept telling himself no, but the sight down below kept making him think otherwise. The leader who was judging the new soldiers, they had a bulge under their right sleeve. Something thicker was under their sleeve and the shape that was seen seemed very familiar to Raph. Only the top part was thicker and it extended from the leaders fingers all the way down to their mid arm, almost like…like a glove or second sleeve underneath their uniform. Raph shook his head. He must have been insane to even consider the thought of Sam being involved with the group down below.  
Leo could tell that something was bugging his brother and he quickly glanced in the same direction that Raph had been looking, and that's when he also noticed the bulge. Instantly he had the same thoughts as Raph but…he had to be wrong, right? She had just told them the stories of her family and how all their lives were either changed or stolen by the Foot…unless it was all a front. NO! How could he even think that?  
"It can't be her" Raph stated softly.  
Leo turned towards his younger brother who must have easily read his mind in order for him to say such a thing.  
"I know…the timing is just really…ironic" he replied. He paused and closed his eyes and took a moment to wipe all these emotional thoughts from his mind before entering the battle. If Raph could read him so easily, something that was usually a difficult task for anyone to complete accurately, then obviously his emotions were affecting his tactics and skills. He opened his eyes, took a breath, and signaled to the brothers to attack. 

"SHIT, RUN!" one of the male leaders shouted as soon as the turtles leaped down from the shadows above.  
The boys assumed that these newbs weren't very skilled since they were retreating rather than advancing towards their enemy. This was a first for the boys, but that wasn't a reason to allow the thieves to escape.  
Soldiers started running towards the vehicles while others starting attacking from afar, slowly moving backwards so that they could try to escape. Kunai knives and shuriken stars were hurled at the boys, but to the turtles this was just like basic training at home with Splinter. Raph started making his way over to the side wall where he saw the leader run and dash behind a dumpster. He wanted to trust Sam so badly, and if he was wrong then he would never disrespect her like this ever again…but he needed clear confirmation that this wasn't her. He felt like shit as he started sprinting towards the dumpster, but he just needed to know.  
He sensed movement from up ahead and was able to dodge two large trash cans that had been launched up in the air that were about to crash down where he was running. When he looked forward again he was shocked to see the huge dumpster itself sliding towards him at rapid speed. He leaped and rolled away, wondering how the heck the supposedly human soldier was able to move an entire dumpster. That's when he saw the leader running back towards the cars. Raph quickly got up and pulled out a chain-sickle from his side holsters and using all his strength he launched the chain and weight at the end towards the escapee, and it wrapped perfectly around their ankle as they collapsed. Raph smirked at the careless and distracted soldier as he quickly made his way over towards them. Of course they got themselves loose quite quickly, which was to be expected, but Raph was already swinging his sais at the leader. He was confused by this soldier's tactic. Instead of trying to attack him head on, they were only fighting defensively. He also realized that the soldier hadn't thrown knives or anything sharp at him when he approached their spot by the dumpster, but rather objects that might momentarily knock him unconscious. He tried to stay focused, but like his older brother said, everything was just too ironic. Since his opponent wasn't moving towards him, he put his sais away and decided to use hand-to-hand combat skills. This way he could try to remove their mask and he could finally feel relief when being proven wrong at thinking this could be his friend. He noticed a pattern amongst the soldier in that they kept glancing towards the side, almost like they were trying to check up on their other soldiers. That was his moment. Raph waited for a clear moment to lunge forward, and just like he anticipated, the soldier glanced to the side and screamed 'no' as they saw a comrade get knocked out by Donatello from afar. Raph took advantage of this moment and he acted so quickly that he didn't even have a chance to recognize the familiar voice. He put the leader into a headlock and swiftly removed their mask, and just like that, Raph lost all feeling in his body. 

He couldn't feel his arms to keep his hold on the girl, he couldn't feel his legs to try and run away, he couldn't feel any part of his body to try and attack or to run away. He was stunned, the sight in front of him shocking him to the point that he was frozen solid. His fear had come true. The person he had come to trust had lied. He wasn't sure how much of it was a lie, but he knew that somewhere along the line everything had become a farce. He felt played, betrayed, and everything in between. He was instantly filled with anger, hate, rage, and he wanted to ball his fists up and throw a punch at the person in front of him because of it, but he was so frozen that he couldn't even do that, and he couldn't even feel the solid kick from the foot that was now connecting with his plastron. He was facing Sam, and he was now being attacked with a spin kick technique that he had taught Mikey and that had then been passed onto Sam. 

The kick launched Raph backwards. It wasn't as forceful as when the dumpster had been sent sliding along the ground moments ago, but it still knocked him off his feet and made him travel a decent distance away from his original spot. Even as the girl ran away, Raph couldn't chase after her. He just slowly stood up, watching her run away and yell to the other soldiers to drive away and look at them with concern in her eyes. Why hadn't she looked at him that way? When her face was revealed she had nothing but fear in her eyes, fear from being caught. And then when she kicked him, anger was etched into her expression, so why did she seem more concerned about these soldiers than she did about him?  
_"It was a lie all along, all of it, and we all fell for it." _Raph thought to himself.  
Raph watched from afar as Sam gave instructions to the other soldiers before they all began to drive away. He then saw Leo run over and punch Sam in the forehead, knocking her out cold. He closed his eyes and hoped that this was all a dream, but his brother's shouts and Leo's commands woke him up, forcing him to return to this nightmare. 

***Later that night, back at the lair*  
Themes:  
TOP-Oh Mom  
BAP-Voicemail  
Super Junior-Don't Leave Me  
Lady Gaga-Million Reasons  
Hurts-Illuminated  
B1A4-A lie  
BTS-Let Me Know  
**

Sam slowly started to open her eyes. She felt groggy and was grossed out by the faint smell of blood. Her eyes finally opened all the way and she realized where she was. Both her wrists and ankles were handcuffed and bound together with twist ties, and rope kept her back and thighs bound to the chair that she was sitting in as well. Her head tilted forward now that she had conscious control of her body movements, or at least the little bit of body control that she still had, and she recognized the room around her: the dojo. She winced as her head started pounding from the head movement even though it had been slow.  
"You're lucky. I would have made the punch hurt way more" said a low and gruff voice from the round circular dojo entrance.  
Sam was afraid to turn her head and face him, so she kept facing forward. How was she supposed to look at Raph after what she had done? She wanted to explain everything to him now that her worst fear had come true, but she had a feeling that wasn't the type of conversation he wanted to have right now.  
"Nothing to say huh? What, you run out of lies?" he asked, anger clearly stated in his tone.  
Sam paused and tried to choose her words carefully, trying her hardest not to set him off.  
"I don't want to fight-"  
"Oh really?" he asked, sarcastically laughing, "you don't want to fight? Huh, that's odd, since you took all that time to train with us and have Mikey teach you pretty much all that we know, and then take that and add it to whatever you've learned from your pals over at Foot headquarters."  
"I promise you that there's an explanation-"  
"I don't want to hear shit from you" he said as he slowly shook his head. "Do you actually think I'll listen to a damn thing you say after that stunt you pulled back there?"  
Sam was trying to stay calm, but not being able to explain was really beginning to frustrate her. She knew this was all her fault, but she wanted to prove to him that things weren't as they seemed. "There's a reason that I pulled that stunt back there."  
"Yeah, it's called being a stone cold liar."  
"It's not that lies were being told, it's that truths weren't."  
"Really? Because I was told, actually all of us including the man you call your best friend were told that you were heading to a soccer tournament, yet we hear on t.v. that you never showed up, and then where do we find you? Judging Foot soldiers while wearing a leader armband, which states that you've reached high ranks in the Foot clan, which means you've been there for a long time. Yeah Sam that doesn't sound like lying at all."  
"*sigh* you don't know the full story Raph. And an armband doesn't mean shit, they're basically handed out to soldiers in the New York branch."  
"You'd know, wouldn't you?"  
_"Shit" _Sam thought. Already her frustrated emotions were taking their toll on her and she was thinking and acting based on them rather than with intelligence.  
"That's now what I meant and you know it."  
"No, no I don't. I don't know jack shit about you and your sappy sob story of a past, and I don't want to."  
Sam paused. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked softly.  
"It means that I see through your act and I know that everything you've ever said was nothing but bull."  
She finally looked over at him and looked him straight in the eyes. "That's not true, I swear on my life that's not true."  
"Sorry kid, I'm not trusting a damn thing you say anymore."  
Sam began to clench her fists. It was one thing for him to hate on her (after all, she did deserve it) but she would not tolerate anyone speaking in such an ill manner about her family.  
"Raph, you have every reason to hate me, and I don't blame you for feeling that way. I should have told you guys when I had the chance-"  
"Actually you shouldn't have met us, ever. Heh, I knew I was right about you all along, but Mikey, the innocent idiot that he is, he trusted you. And then that made Leo want to attempt to trust you because 'it would be safer for all of us.' YUP. This is definitely safer! We let a Foot soldier learn our practice routines and we let them figure out where we live. I'll go get my calendar and you can tell me what date to save for when the rest of your joke of a clan comes and visits my fists."

"Silent again huh?"  
Sam couldn't help but begin to glare at him. "I'm not going to talk to you when you're like this."  
"Like what Sam? Pissed off that I openly let someone betray me? Frustrated that I kept telling people not to trust you yet here we are in the situation we all feared? Enraged by the fact that I believed all your crap about your dead siblings?"  
"It wasn't crap" Sam snapped, moving her body as she tried to break free from these restraints. She was already getting choked up from the situation she was in, but all these chains and ties were making her feel suffocated. She realized her tech glove was gone, but there was still a small teeny tiny little needle inside her uniforms sleeve and she gently pricked her finger with it, waiting for the small drop of liquid to spread throughout her body.  
"Well how the heck would I know? Since you made it clear that the Foot were number one on your hate list and yet here you are wearing their uniform," he said as he shook his head. "You must think we're a bunch of idiots."  
"Only when you don't listen."  
"Oh you want me to listen to you, just like how your 'best friend' did?" Raph said, holding up his fingers to make quotes as he said 'best friend,' "Wow, you took advantage of Mikey and his kind-hearted nature and you STILL want to attempt to make that plan work. I'm sure this is really going to screw him up. Here you had a real brother and you betrayed him for some fake ones."  
Sam pushed her arms out and tried to break free again, but failed. "My brothers aren't fake, everything I told you about them and their deaths was true."  
"Come up with some new material" Raph snapped.  
Sam was really getting fed up with this. She didn't want to hurt Raph, but he was really pushing her towards her limit.  
"You better watch your mouth."  
"Or what? Are you going to put me in a fake grave as well? Dang, that's lower than low. I'd be embarrassed if I was your fake siblings. Hell, I think I'd be happier being dead than having to live knowing that I'm related to you" he snarled.  
And that was it, the breaking point.  
The mutagen on the needle now kicked in and Sam had massive amounts of strength surging through her. It couldn't be seen from the outside physically, but her actions made it known that something was wrong. Sam ripped her arms and legs through every rope, chain, and wire that had been holding them down. Her entire body was free, and now she was glaring at Raph as she paced back and forth on her side of the room. Emotions took over and reason was locked away from her thoughts. Reason was banging on the door, trying to be let back in, but rage was throwing a party and he was on a high that he wasn't coming back down from anytime soon.  
"Woooow, true words from a sidekick. No wonder your own father didn't choose you as leader. Your tactics are controlled by your anger and they make you look like an idiot, it's comical" Sam barked.  
"They're better than whatever techniques are being forced down your throat from the Foot" Raph barked back.  
"Really? Them why am I the one with a leader's armband?" Sam asked, a wicked smile forming on her face. On the inside she hated what she was doing, but Raph had picked at her deepest wound, so she was doing the same to him, and this side of her was what was visible on the outside.  
"You think you're so tough now? Because what I saw earlier was a wimpy excuse for a leader. You couldn't even throw a single punch! All you did was cower in fear" he said as he started walking towards her.  
"Punches? Holy shit, you don't think with anything but your fists do you? Another reason you'll never be a leader! Enemies see through you when all you use is the same brute strength attack again and again. No wonder Shredder kicked your ass" Sam said as she also started walking towards Raph.  
They both walked forward and with their right arms punched each other square in the jaw. Both were taken aback, and if Raph was thinking clearly, he would have questioned how Sam was able to hit him with the same amount of power that he had hit her, and he would have also questioned how this punch hadn't knocked her out cold like it always did, but obviously Raph wasn't thinking clearly.  
"One crack on my shell is getting my ass kicked? Shredder must have you all types of fucked up to believe that."  
"Takes a little bitch to know what it's like to get fucked up, right Raph?"  
"Look at you trying to act tough, it's as sad as the lie about your fake dead family."  
"You know what they say about guys that talk big? They're small in other places. Makes sense, trying to make up for what you don't have."  
"Oh I'm sure you know what plenty looks like after all you've done. I'm sure your innocence is just an act to, another mark on your list of lies."  
"At least I could get some if I wanted to. You'll be stuck down here for the rest of your life. Who the hell would be dumb enough to want you? You'd probably bore and then beat your woman to death since your fists are larger than your brain."  
"Cut the act Sam. You're so stuck between your innocent and tough guy acts that you're just spouting a bunch of bullshit. You're so broken that you don't even know what you're saying!"  
"You wanna see stuck? You want to experience being broken?! Well welcome to my life asshole!"  
It was like the flash ran by. Raph saw nothing but blue from Sam's eyes before seeing nothing but black darkness. The impact from the kick sent him flying backwards so quickly that he literally saw nothing and wasn't able to see again until he was on the other side of the room. At first he felt nothing, but within seconds he felt pain surging through his body. His chest hurt like crazy and his head was pounding like nothing he had ever felt before, and his shell, his shell was literally stuck in the wall. For the first time ever in his life, Raph was truly terrified. He kept trying to pull himself forward, but the kick had left him so weak that he could barely move. It was too late, but he was finally starting to think logically, and he realized how screwed he was. _  
"What the hell was that?! How was she able to attack me like that? That speed, that strength! And I swear I just saw her brown eyes turn blue!" _Raph thought to himself as he kept trying to free himself from the wall.  
*SLAM*  
A mix of fear and shock prevented Raph from turning to see the huge hole Sam's fist had made in the wall, right next to where his head was. What he did see was that she had found her tech glove (it had been behind him on the weapons wall) and she was putting it back on. It was a bit different this time though. On the bottom of her forearm was usually just the black flexible webbed material, but now there was a thin metal strip that trailed down to the underside of her arm, and on the top part of her arm where the strip started was a small flat circular piece. He wondered what this was for and if this addition had anything to do with her new power, but his attention was very quickly directed back towards the girl as she began shouting at him.  
"God you're such an idiot!" Sam shouted as she slammed her other fist against the wall near Raph's head again, but this time on the opposite wall. "You can't keep your mouth shut for like five god damn seconds to just let me explain!" She then took a step back as her hands flew up and grabbed onto the side of her head. She seemed to be in pain as the white sclera of her eye once again turned blue and her iris and pupil were both a dark solid black, all of her normal eyes colors instantly disappearing. Sam looked back up at and glared at Raph as her eye color started to fade back to normal. Raph felt a chill run down his spine as he saw the girl's expression. He had never seen her look at anyone like that before and he knew that something was making her not like herself. He quickly began to have doubts about all he had said and he regretted letting his anger and confusion get the best of him, but the damage was done, and he knew that whatever came next was all his own fault.  
"Why…Why can't you just learn to shut up and listen?!" Sam shouted, still standing in place where she was now a few steps away from Raph. "Do you honestly think I wanted this? You think that I openly joined that shitty clan? I'd rather die than loyally join them! But you wouldn't know that because you can't keep your mouth shut!"  
Sam now slowly started walking forward.  
"Sam, wait-"  
"SHUT UP!" As Sam screamed out, forceful wind gusts flew out to the sides of her body. "You don't know anything, god there's still so much that you don't yet know and understand. But hey, months of getting to know someone obviously doesn't mean shit to you. Someone telling you about the most terrifying and scarring parts of their life obviously DOESN'T MEAN SHIT to you. Watching someone breakdown in front of you, open their heart to you, you saw all of that fist hand, and how do you react? You degrade that person's family and call them a liar! This is why I didn't come to you guys in the first place, I knew you would react this way, ESPECIALLY YOU! I knew I made the right decision when I did and you've given me all the proof I need that I never should have trusted you EVER. You know how trapped you feel right now, that fear of not being able to control a damn thing that's about to happen to you? I've been living that way since Thursday night. Wrong, I've been living that way my entire life! You're right, my life is so fucked up that I am broken, and now you're going to know what it's like to be broken to."  
Raph's eyes went wide as he saw Sam take quick steps towards him as she lifted her arm up, ready to throw another nasty punch at his face. She moved quickly, but not quick enough. Mikey had suddenly appeared and hooked his arms within Sam's and with the momentum of her movements, he was able to forcefully pull her back. She stumbled back a few steps and instantly her expression softened as she saw him, but before she could react any further, Leo had jumped in and kicked her with as much force as he possibly could. Sam was sent flying towards the other side of the room and crashed into the wall. Her head was pounding and her back was as sore as ever. Again, before she could react in any type of way, Donatello had rushed over, and using his bo staff, he pushed Sam up and was pinning her neck against the wall, suffocating her as he did so.  
"Oh my god…" Mikey mumbled, barely able to speak from the shock he was in from the sights in front of him.  
"Raph? Raph?!" Leo shouted as he tried pulling his brother out of the wall.  
Mikey aided his older brother and within another minute Raph was free. He collapsed under Mikey's hold once he was free. He was conscious, but just barely, and he had no real control over his body at the moment, all his energy focused on just keeping himself awake and conscious.  
Donnie finally eased up and let Sam's body fall to the floor with a hard thud. She gasped for air as color returned to her face.  
Donnie and Leo quickly switched spots. Donnie rushed over and began looking Raph over for any major injuries. He checked his pulse and it seemed rather high, but it was gradually steadying back to normal. He then pulled out a small hand held x-ray device and checked to see if his brother had any serious internal damage. Luckily nothing was broken or torn which meant that he might have some serious sores and bruises, but nothing life threatening had happened to him.  
Hearing Donnie sigh out in relief signaled to Leo and Mikey that everything was going to be okay, but that relief quickly switched back over to rage.  
Leo looked down at Sam who looked like she was about to stand up, that is, until a katana was pulled out and the blade was placed in front of her face.  
Sam looked up at Leo and then back over at Raph. "No…" Sam was mortified. Even though Donnie had signaled that Raph would be okay, she knew that nothing was truly okay in this situation. She couldn't believe what she had just done. Even if Raph had acted like a prick, he was still her friend, he was her brother, how could she have let herself get so carried away? How could she let her emotions get the best of her like this?  
"Don't say anything" Leo snarled.  
Sam had never seen Leo or Donnie look as vicious as they did now, and she couldn't even look at Mikey in fear of what his expression would reveal.  
"I can explain-"  
"I said don't talk!" Leo shook his head. "You never could listen, could you?"  
Sam's hands were shaking like crazy, and she was sweating more than she ever had in her entire life. She felt so many emotions, but more than anything she was afraid of losing everything she had just finally found. She needed these guys, she needed this family, HER family…or at least what was her family. Sam kept trying to explain, things just couldn't end like this, not without the guys at least understanding the reasons for why all of this chaos had happened.  
"Leo please," Sam softly said "I can explain-"  
"I don't want to hear your explanation, it's too late for that. We leave to go discuss how we should handle 'you,' and we have to rush back because you can't control yourself. I don't know what is and isn't true about you anymore, but I WILL NOT give you any more chances to harm my family." He spoke in a bitter tone and never ceased from holding his katana right in front of her face.  
Sam knew that she had hurt everyone in the room one way or another and that she had no right to speak or to fight in defending herself, but right now she was so desperate to not lose these guys. She needed them whether they wanted to believe it or not, and she wasn't leaving without sharing her side of the story.  
"Leo please just listen to me, I didn't mean for this to happen. The reason I hid from you guys was to prevent this from happening."  
"Because that worked" Donnie said maliciously. Sam had never heard him talk in such a tone before which emphasized how out of control things had become.  
"I'm sorry…"  
"You think an apology is enough to fix this?" Donnie asked sourly, scrunching up his face as he glared at her. He shook his head at her. "You can't undo this, you'll never be able to get past this, and we'll never forgive you for this."  
"I know, but please-" she begged before getting cut off.  
"Then you know it's time to leave."  
Sam rapidly shook her head. "No. Not yet, not without at least explaining-"  
"We. Don't. Care" Leo stated cruelly.  
Sam balled her hands up into fists. "After all of that, I'm not leaving until you at least know why it happened." Sam was beginning to grow a temper again. She fought as hard as she could to control it so that she wouldn't hurt anyone else, but nothing could prevent the sour tone that was now coming from her own voice.  
"If you dare to even raise a fist, I'll cut it off" Leo stated through gritted teeth.  
"I didn't know what to do and I didn't know how you would react so I thought-"  
"Just get out Sam!" Donnie shouted.  
"No! Not until-"  
"Just go," Mikey mumbled out as he stared at the floor in front of him.  
And that was all that needed to be said. Sam quickly glanced over at her friend, searching for a sign that he didn't mean what he said, or even that she had misheard him. But she heard him correctly, and for the first time ever since they had met, Mikey was kicking her out. This was the final blow, the breaking point, the act that sent her over the edge. Those two words were all that needed to be said to signal to Sam that this was the end. After everything that she had shared with the turtles, after the tears she had shed in front of them, after all she went through in opening up to them and telling them the entire truth about her past, the only people she had ever confided in with such details would no longer be part of her life, ever. Once she left the room she knew she would never see or talk to them ever again. It would go back to how things were before she had met them, but this time it would be even worse. She had gained four more brothers, and once again her family was being ripped away from her thanks to the Foot clan. There was still so much they didn't know, but none of that mattered now. She knew that they didn't care and they never would and they just wanted to make her a made up bad dream of the past, and she decided that she better start living with that mindset as well as she stared at the floor and slowly began to rise to her feet. She didn't speak and her hands weren't shaking anymore as she stood up and began walking towards the exit. She made sure not to look at any of the boys as she left, knowing it would instantly lead to tears flowing from her eyes, so she stared straight ahead and exited the room without ever looking back once. She hoped and would have begged for any of them, especially Mikey, to have stopped her…but not a word was spoken as she walked towards the exit. 

After Sam had left the room, the dojo was filled with nothing but silence. The usually loud and chaotic room was now so silent that you could hear a pin drop. All three boys helped get Raph to his room and by that time he was starting to recuperate some. Once that was settled, all four brothers wondered off to their rooms, each wanting to be alone after all that had happened that night. Each one would view and handle the situation differently from the others, which unknowingly would lead to more tension, but for now, they all just wanted to be by themselves and try their best to control their emotions and their thoughts before it led any of them to do something they'd regret.

**Author's Note: Sorry this chapter is so short. This was originally supposed to be part of the previous chapter, but after I had planned everything out I felt that it would be best to write them separately. **

**I hope you guys liked this chapter. I've been anticipating this part of the story for a while now and I can't believe I've actually reached this point in the story. I'm sorry if it's rude to ask this, but if possible could you guys leave some type of feedback as to how you felt when reading this chapter? I try my best to keep the turtles in character and if possible I'd like to know if it seems that I'm still doing that or if it seems like I'm stretching things a bit, like to a point where a reader would think "whoa there's no way so-and-so character would say/do that!" **

**Also, was the fighting and arguing scene alright? I wanted it to be intense and rough because that's what this whole situation is and it's going to have a huge impact on the turtles and how they handle what has happened, but at the same time I didn't want to go overboard and make Raph and Sam seem like twisted psycho killers or anything like that. I really wanted to hone in on how each character would feel and would react in these moments, so hopefully the way the fights went down was alright for you guys.**

**Again, thank you guys for sticking with me so far and your feedback means the world to me it truly does. I'll see you guys again in the next chapter **


	21. Chapter 21

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. **

Chapter #21

***Wednesday Aug. 6****th**** (2 days later) Foot headquarters, dorm rooms* **

Sam was facing the wall as she lay on the bed of her dorm room. She really didn't want to get up, but she knew that her break was just about over and that she would have to join everyone for training again soon. Not only that, but she hadn't been punished for what had happened just a couple days previous, and she knew her time was coming soon. She then heard the door open up, bringing some light into the pitch black room.  
"Hey, I don't want you to get in anymore trouble, so please start getting ready for training, okay?" Jay said softly. Sam had told him what had happened with the turtles and he knew that she was still mentally and emotionally sore from them banning her from their lives. He hated that all of this was his fault and that there was nothing he could do to fix it, but at least now he could be with his sister 24/7, and now was the time for him to be the supportive big brother that he needed to be. He walked over and sat next to his sister who was still lying down and he put his hand on her shoulder.  
"I know you're hurting, trust me I know, but one day a time will come when everything will be avenged and everything will be alright again. If they're really your friends then they'll eventually understand and then things will go back to normal" he said, gently rubbing Sam's shoulder to help soothe and comfort her.  
She slowly turned over and looked up at him. "You didn't see their faces Jay, I've never seen any of them look like that before. It was made extremely clear where I stand with them, and regardless of whether they ever forgive me or not, now that Shredder knows I knew them he'll constantly be using me as a way to track them down and hurt them. Being friends with them will just put a target on their backs."  
"I know it's not easy…but I remember that phone call the one made on the night of the anniversary. No matter how mad someone may get, people don't forget moments like what you all shared together that night. If he's really anything like Nick, then he didn't mean what he said the other night, and soon he'll come to regret it. And that orange one, after all you told me about him, I'd be shocked if he truly wanted you to leave. Trust me when I say that I've been through some crazier shit than what you dealt with, but eventually everything works out in the end. Plus, after them seeing you in that way without an explanation like that, maybe some space between all of you is actually the best thing. Even the best of friends argue."  
She quickly shot an angry look at him. "This was more than just-!"  
"I know it was more than just an argument, but the principle still stands. I know there's a lot on your mind and I know you're wishing you could redo everything that went wrong, but an appropriate time will come to handle all of that, but if you don't get focused soon then you'll be punished worse than…" Jay then sat forward, his elbows resting on his knees while his hands cupped his mouth. He tried to stay composed, but knowing that Shredder was not pleased with what had happened, Jay knew that Sam would be harshly punished, and there was nothing he could do at this point to prevent that. He had even offered to take his sisters place in the punishment, but Shredder said that that wouldn't be enough and right after he had forced Jay into an immediate dismissal from the subject.  
Now it was Sam's turn to comfort her suffering older brother. She sat up and laid her head on his right shoulder.  
"Hey, I've been training with various people for years now. I'm a tough girl Jay, I can handle and push through whatever he has to offer" she said with confidence.  
Jay fought not to cry since training was about to start soon, but past memories were what scared him most.  
"I've been punished, multiple times. I'm afraid he'll do even worse to you. Please just…be respectful and don't show him any emotion. Don't snap, don't argue, just get through it as soon as possible. Don't give him a reason to make things longer or worse for you. I love you Sam, and I'll be here to take care of you as soon as it's over. I'm…I'm sorry I'm failing you, again" he said as he began tearing up.  
Sam hugged him, comforting him so that he could calm down sooner.  
"It's not your fault, none of it ever was. You're tougher than anyone I've ever met and I'm so proud to call you my brother. Your love and support is the reason I'll be able to survive tonight."  
Jay tightly hugged his sister back for the last minute they would have with each other until late that night. Afterwards, they both stood up, exited the room, and then went their separate ways. 

Sam walked to a room where she would be practicing hand-to-hand combat and then later on practice with various ninja tools. She saw one of her new friends just entering the room and Sam crouched down and quickly snuck up behind her. She then leaped onto the purple salamander who then flipped her forward in the process, but not too forcefully, so Sam was able to keep her footing and land without falling onto her face or back.  
"What the heck is wrong with you?" Mona scowled.  
"I'm your leader, so I have to test and make sure you can defend yourself" Sam said proudly.  
"By acting like a child?" Mona asked, smiling while shaking her head. "Besides, from what I heard, you lost your leaders band, so you're just one of us now. Which means I can beat the crap out of you" she said with a wicked smile.  
The two then started playfully wrestling until some more of their friends joined in on the fight.  
*gasp!* Sam's in trouble, I'll protect you my friend!" Umeko shouted as she ran over and leaped onto Mona Lisa.  
Ninjara turned to see what all the commotion was about and quickly ran over and tackled Sam, putting her into a headlock. "Come on, you can do better than that! This is pathetic" she teased.  
The teasing worked and Sam kicked her leg back, kicking the fox in the back of the knee and having her fall, and within that split second Sam freed herself and then quickly switched the positions so that she was now holding Ninjara in a headlock.  
"Who's pathetic now?" she asked.  
"You!" shouted Titian, the lighter green colored turtle, who then used his foot to push Sam off of Ninjara.  
Sam laughed as she stood back up. "Dude, whose side are you on?"  
"I help whichever lady is being attacked" he said with pride.  
"Playboy" Ninjara mumbled with a smile. "But what will you do when it's you who needs to be saved?" and just like that, she was now holding Titian in a headlock.  
Just then, Bramante, the younger and darker colored twin brother to Titian, and Sally Pride walked into the room.  
Bramante walked over and gently nudged Ninjara off his brother and then helped both of them up. He gave them a look that let them know that this was not the time to be playing around (because if it was play time, he totally would have joined in).  
"Alright ladies and gentleman of all species, hand-to-hand is starting in 30 seconds, so unless you want Tatsu to use you as his personal punching bag today, you better get in position!" Sally Pride shouted, and everyone in the room sprinted to get in line, ready for when their instructor entered the room. 

Sam looked down the line and was shocked to see that all her friends ended up being in the exact same room for the exact same training session today. Shredder had thousands of recruits (both by choice and by force) within the building, so it was shocking that literally ALL of her 'closest' friends within the Foot clan were in the same session as her. She had a feeling that this was Shredder's way of 'being nice' to her before he beat the shit out of her.

In the room were:

The Asian crew that she had known since childhood: Key, Kris, Kyle, Kevin, and Ken. Kyle and Kevin were a year younger than the other three.

The short brown haired triplets: Clay, Thomas, and Grace.

A mixed boy named Ryan who was a year older, and his one year younger sister Angel who had the same skin color as her brother.

A tall thin boy with light orange and brown colored hair named Brad who was a year older, and his one year younger sister with orange hair named Brianna.

A brown curly haired girl named Sarah who was a year older and her one year younger sister with similar hair but with longer hair that had a little more of an orange tint named Amanda.

A Japanese girl (who was actually sent from the branch in Tokyo) who was a year older named Lotus.

A brown haired girl named Sofia, though her nickname was Shadow since she excelled in staying hidden in the shadows and never being seen.

A sandy blonde haired girl named Ashley who was the year older cousin to another girl with sandy blonde hair named Jillian Amante.

A young Asian girl with short black hair named Lindsey Baker.

A darker skinned boy named Josh.

A tan skinned boy with slightly spiked black hair named Tyler.

A girl with bright blonde haired girl named Kate and her twin sister with the same bright blonde hair named Becca.

A darker skinned girl with long black wavy hair named Tara.

Two boys with short brown hair that was lightly spiked in the front, the cousins Aaron and Nathan.

An orange and white Akita Inu dog named Hachiko.

A female salamander with darker purple skin named Mona Lisa.

A female arctic fox with snow white fur named Alopex.

A female cat with pink and blue pastel colored fur named Sprinkles, or Sprinks for short.

Mondo Gecko, a yellow gecko with black polka dots, and his girlfriend Candy, a bright blue gecko with red polka dots.

A reddish purple colored male and female set of twin turtles named Spike and Chompy.

Two female fox sisters. Ninjara had darker brown and orange colored fur, and her year younger sister, Umeko, had lighter orange fur.

An older lighter colored green female turtle named Venus, her younger twin brothers (Titian being the older twin and having lighter green skin and Bramante being the younger more mature twin with darker green skin) and their younger sister Victoria who also had lighter green skin. Only Bramante had darker skin that resembled their father, the other three having lighter skin that resembled their mother.

The four mutant frog brothers. Atilla the oldest with forest green skin Rasputin the second oldest and largest brother with the darkest green colored skin, Ghenghis who was a lighter yellow green color, and then Napoleon who was the thinnest and youngest brother with a light green color to his skin. 

Overall, all of her closer friends within the clan were here. The only ones that were missing were the siblings of her human friends who were closer friends with Jay, and the more adult aged members of the Mutanimals. Sally Pride, a lioness who was one of the more mature and adult members of the Mutanimals, was one of the leaders for the teenage mutants, so she was also here to help keep them in line during training.  
Including Sam and excluding Sally, there were 45 soldiers for this training session. This again let Sam know that something was up since the schedules made it known that for the first few hours of physical training everybody would be in small groups, and over 40 people was obviously not a small group.  
Just then, Tatsu walked in. Everyone stood up straight and still in line since by now everyone knew not to get on his bad side. Tatsu looked at Sam and an evil smile formed on his face. "Ahh, so that's why I have such a large group this morning. Alright, line up at the course behind you and I want each of you to run through it 3 times. If you fall in the water, then your 3 times starts all over again. Hajime!"  
Everyone walked to the course behind them that stretched from one side of the room to the other.  
They each took their turns and completed the exercise rather quickly. Apparently Tatsu didn't realize that everyone in his group (excluding Sam though she was still an incredible ninja) had been in the clan for months at a time or even longer, so this course was a piece of cake and truly was nothing but a warm-up to them. After they each successfully completed their three rounds, Tatsu decided to be nice enough to give them a 5 minute water break before they continued, and he also decided to be nice and leave the room so that the teens could converse for these five minutes before they had to train in silence (from gossiping that is) for the remainder of the hour and a half they had left. 

"Hey," Kris said as he ran over and walked next to Sam, "why did he look at you when he said that? What happened?" he asked with concern flooding through his voice.  
"Nothing, I just fucked up and got caught."  
"Are you going to explain what that means?" he asked, frustration mixing with the concern in his voice.  
By this time everyone was sitting in a large circle, listening to what had happened to their friend.  
"So, you know how the newbs were sent on their robberies for their initiation?"  
"Yeah."  
"Well, some guests that I prayed wouldn't show up decided to show up, and I was worried about the innocent newbs and got distracted and I was de-masked" she said as she bit her lip, hating that that night's memories were now flooding through her mind.  
"Wait, you saw them?!" he asked with wide eyes.  
"Oh no" Key said, "That couldn't have gone well."  
"What happened Sam?" Chompy asked.  
"Well, they were pissed. So they knocked me out after I had commanded the newbies to leave without looking back, and I got into an argument with one of them-"  
"It was red, wasn't it? I bet it was! I've seen him before and he looks like bad news!" Thomas shouted.  
"Oh please, you think they're all bad news" Grace said as she rolled her eyes at her brother.  
"He is the hothead of their group though, so it's very likely it was him" Clay, the third of the triplets, added to the conversation.  
"Thank you detectives" Sam said loudly and bluntly, "I love the input" she chuckled. "But yeah, the others were off somewhere and he and I…shared some words."  
"How are you handling that?" Nathan asked with a sorrowful expression.  
Sam nodded. "I'd lie if I said I was taking it well. I'm just...scared."  
"That they'll come after you?" Rasputin asked, scrunching up his face in anger as he thought of someone wanting to harm the girl.  
"Scared of what I was able to do. I…I could have killed him. If Mikey hadn't stopped me, I literally could have smashed Raph's face in." Sam brought her knees up to her chin as she shuddered when thinking of what she had almost done just a couple of nights before.  
"Sadly it happens, especially when testing out that mutagen. Shredder doesn't even know where it comes from, but he has his teams test them all out as they're randomly sent to him, and the results aren't always pretty" said Lindsey.  
"It wasn't just me losing control from the mutagen and from my emotions, it was that they literally kicked me out of their lives forever. I've never seen any of them look or heard them talk like they had that night. It felt like I had just lost four more siblings. I don't think I can keep experiencing that anymore…"  
"Well, here's one way you can think about it. If they're pissed at you, then they won't chase after you for a while, which means they won't get all mixed up in this Foot business. It's better knowing they're safe than knowing they're going to follow you and get themselves caught!" Ryan shouted as he turned towards his younger sister, Angel.  
Angel rolled her eyes. "What were you expecting when I saw you disappear randomly each night? Did you honestly expect me to just ignore that my brother was obviously in some type of trouble?" she asked in an annoyed manner.  
"Yes! That's exactly what I wanted to happen, for you to ignore it and keep living! Then you wouldn't have gotten wrapped up in this mess! But you're so nosy that you practically went searching for trouble!"  
Angel put her hand on her chest, pretending to be taken aback.  
"Who, me?"  
"Yes you! Idiot, getting yourself caught after following the Purple Dragons" he said as he shook his head.  
"Excuse me, I didn't get caught because of that. I would have been fine if I hadn't been captured by that one over there" she said as she pointed at Lotus, who then made an awkward smile.  
"Sorry, it's my job" Lotus said.  
"Don't worry, I learned the hard way what happens when you don't follow an order, so I understand" Angel said as she shot an understanding smile in the other girls direction. 

"ALRIGHT! Bottles down and get into position. Higher level students, teach to the class the moves you have learned."  
Sally Pride stood next to Tatsu the entire time, though she loathed being anywhere near the man after all he had done to them, but orders were orders, and this wasn't as bad as other things she had to do.  
One at a time down the row, the soldiers who had been taught some higher level techniques took their turn to teach it to the rest of the class, and the next soldier could not step forward to teach until everyone was able to demonstrate the move well enough to Tatsu's liking. Because of how large this group was, this took up the rest of the time for this group.  
"Alright, each of you is making progress. You're lucky that I'm able to send a good report to our Sensei today. You may all move to your next location."  
Tatsu bowed and all the others bowed in return before dispersing throughout the building to where their next training session would be. Everyone pulled out their schedules so they could figure out who was in their next group and walk together to their next location.  
Sam looked at her schedule and cupped her hands around her mouth as she shouted "who is going to speed training?!"  
"MEEEEEEE YEAAHHHHh!" Mondo shouted. He gave his girlfriend a kiss goodbye before she left with her group and then he sprinted over towards Sam, as he then leaped onto her back since he was shorter than her.  
"Let's do this!" Titian shouted as he ran over.  
"Let's go!" Umeko shouted as the two then high fived.  
Ninjara and Bramante shook their heads.  
"You know them?" the older fox asked.  
"Never seen them before in my life" the older turtle replied, both receiving pouty faces from their younger siblings.  
Once they were all there, the group consisted of: Kevin, Brad, Lotus, Titian, Bramante, Atilla, Ghenghis, Ninjara, Umeko, Mondo, Sprinkles, Hachiko, Spike and Alopex.  
"Alright kids, I'm going to be training with you guys in the next group, so follow me to the next room, okay?" Sally Pride said as she began to lead the way, and all the teenagers followed behind her.  
Sam hadn't gotten a chance to talk to some of her clan friends since she returned to headquarters the other night, so she decided to mess with them a bit, her first target being Kevin.  
"Hey Kevin."  
He turned his head to face her as they all continued walking. "Yeah?"  
"How long were you guys NOT going to tell me that you were all members of the Foot clan even though you saw me in school every single day?" she asked as she sent him a comical yet questioning face.  
"Uhhhh" he said nervously, feeling a bit guilty about the whole situation, "well, never really."  
"Oooh, tension!" Mondo teased, before playfully being kicked by Kevin.  
"How can you do that though? Face someone every day and not tell them that their own brother was forced into joining the clan that killed their family. Please elaborate sir" she teased.  
He bit his lip as he looked at her. "Well, how do you hang out with four 6 foot turtles all the time and not tell anyone about that?" he said with a smirk.  
"Ha I didn't! Because one of them is only 5'8" Sam said, proudly crossing her arms across her chest at her snide remark.  
"Dude that's totally different!" Genghis intervened, thinking back to Kevin's comment and completely and unintentionally ignoring Sam. "From her perspective, no one knew who the turtles were, but YOU and everyone in New York knew who the Foot clan were, and you are one of the many people who knew about what happened to Sam's family and yet you still didn't tell her anything even though you saw her every day."  
"Well shit" Atilla and Bramante said in unison, which got a lot of people to snicker. These two were usually so serious, so hearing them make such comments was seen as hilarious to the others.  
"Whose side are you guys on?" Kevin asked with a laugh.  
"The one with the person who tried to save us and let us free" Alopex said as she turned her head around and smirked at the boy.  
"Sorry all of that went sour and you guys got caught again, I know that had to be a rough return" Sam said as she cringed.  
"It's not your fault" Hatchiko said, "there were just way more of them and not enough of us."  
Sam smiled at the mutant dog and then turned back towards Kevin.  
"I still want an explanation as to why I was left in the dark" she said in a playfully stern tone.  
"To be honest, we never wanted you to know, and if there was any way we could have kept it that way then we would have. More than half of the workers all throughout the clan and its positions are here because one family member got caught, and then that lead to either A. other family members chasing after them, or B. the soldier did something wrong and their punishment was to see their family suffer within the clan and its cruel lifestyle, losing any and every freedom they ever had. Jay never wanted that to happen and fought through everything on his own so that you would never end up in this position with the rest of us. When we all found out that you were close to friends of April O'Neil's, we all grew worried that you were friends with the turtles and that that would be the reason you ended up here, and that somewhat came true, but not entirely" Kevin stated.  
"I see…in that sense, thanks to all of you and the others for trying to protect me. I'm sure it's difficult seeing innocent people that could try to help every day and not being able to say a word, for both yours and their protection."  
"Sadly it's just something you get used to" Lotus said, winking at Sam while she scratched the side of her head.  
Mondo saw this gesture and nodded with a smile, excited for their upcoming revolution that was still secretly in the works.  
One of the main reasons Sam had been brought into the clan was so she could aide in the downfall of the New York branch. The plan was still in the works, but having as many strong and worthy revolutionary soldiers was a must, and Sam had taken it upon herself to live with this shitty lifestyle for as long as she needed to in order to save her brother, her friends, the other thousands of New York citizens who were forced into working for Shredder, and the rest of the city that would eventually be destroyed one day once Shredder's army was large enough to take over the entire city in one night.  
"As much as I love to listen to your heart-to-hearts, it's time to be silent. She who must not be named will be our instructor today" Sally said as she rolled her eyes. 

The group entered the room and again they were shocked to see that besides for Karai there was no one else in the room. They all had a feeling that their group of friends being the only ones in the room was another 'kind' offering from their leader.  
"Alright children, today you're going to learn about how to increase your punching speed. There's three main rules for this: 1. Cut off the distance. 2. Avoid telegraphing. 3. Stay loose. We're going to practice through all of these steps within the next hour. Partner up."  
Sam ended up partnering up with Brad. He was a year older than her so she hadn't seen him around school a whole lot, but she knew of him and had become a lot closer to him once she joined the clan.  
"Alright rad Brad, show me the muscles of a track runner" she mocked.  
"I'll show you track runner skills if you show me soccer player skills" he mocked back.  
"Oh it's on" she said as they both got into position. 

Karai then had everybody practice standing in the correct and ready position for a fist fight and where they should be standing as to not give too much space between opponents, but not to close either. She then taught the teens how to avoid loading up their punches and instead to throw them with a quick flick forward with their arm. Finally, she taught them all how to prevent tensing up their punches and how to keep their punches loose but solid while they followed through.  
"Alright, your time is up for the day. Progress has been made, good work soldiers. You will use these skills in your weapons training sessions later this evening" Karai announced.  
Sam's face scrunched up in confusion as she pulled her schedule back out.  
"Do you guys have weapons training on your schedules? I have one more class and I'm done for the day" she said as she passed her schedule around amongst her friends.  
Sprinkles couldn't look at Sam as she spoke to her. "Everyone has a full schedule today Sam. The rest of us won't be done until 10 tonight."  
"Awwww you see that guys? Shredder was kind enough to let me know when he's going to kick my ass today!" Sam shouted with a sarcastic smile.  
"You better watch your tone kid, or else the beating will be worse" Karai said with a glare.  
Sam turned and smiled at the woman. "What? I'm not allowed to respect the organizational skills that my master has? I think he would be disappointed in you for not letting me compliment the all mighty Shredder" Sam said, a mix of confidence and sarcasm in her voice.  
Karai rolled her eyes as she began to exit the room. "Head to the next location before I personally kick your ass" she snarled.  
Sprinkles face displayed all the sorrow she had for what Sam would have to endure later that evening.  
Sam recognized this and pat her friend on the back. "It's alright, I'll be fine. You all survived what you went through and so will I."  
This made the feline cheer up some as she hugged her friend. "Just remember we'll all be here for you when it's over. Whatever happens, don't give up hope. We all love and need you Sam."  
Sam hugged her back, and the two went their separate ways to their next location. 

"Hey Sam wait up!" Hatchiko called out as he jogged over towards his human friend with a smile.  
Sam couldn't help but smile. "Ahhh they had to pick the cutest dog to mutate didn't they?" she in a childish voice as she scratched the top of the dog's head. Though he was human on the inside, he still had many of his canine instincts, including his love of having his head scratched. He was however a total playboy and used his adorable puppy dog looks to get closer to women.  
_"Heh, even if he is a mutant, he's such a flirt, just like-"  
_Sam then froze as she realized what direction her thoughts were heading, and she didn't like it.  
"Earth to Sam!" Brad said as he caught up and then waved his hand in front of Sam's eyes. He stopped once he realized she wasn't just joking around. "Sam…?"  
Sam snapped out of her trance and blinked a few times as she recognized what was going on and who was in front of her. "Sorry, what?" she said, faking a smile.  
"You okay?" Brad asked with concern.  
Sam just brushed it off, forcing herself to ignore how she truly felt. "Yeah I'm fine, I was just wondering how a childish puppy can flirt with so many women" she said as she playfully pushed the dog away.  
This new group now consisted of Sam, Kevin, Brad, Genghis, and Hatchiko.  
"Alright nerds, let's head to the lab" Genghis said as he rubbed his hands together in excitement.  
No one truly enjoyed any job they had to complete within the clan, but depending on that persons individual interests, some jobs were better than others. For some people that were nerdier and were more interested in working with chemicals or with typing in codes on a computer, working in the various laboratories throughout the building wasn't the worst thing in the world. It was the same for those who enjoyed casual exercising activities. They hated the rigorous trainings, but they enjoyed when they were sent to the various gyms throughout the building and basically got to relax while they worked out and built up their muscles, almost like they were at a regular gym…except for the fact that their every single move was monitored by a higher up soldier. 

The group of five reached their destination and, for the third time that day, were surprised to see the group that they had been paired with. In this room included these 5, Clay, Amanda, Tara, Josh, Nathan, Jillian and Lindsey. Sally was no longer with them, but that was because Leatherhead was already working in this room. He was a giant mutant alligator and appeared to be a rather scary being, but in reality he was one of the sweetest beings Sam had ever met, unless there was something that made him feel threatened in which he truly became one of the most terrifying people ever and someone no one would ever want to mess with.  
"Leatherhead!" Sam shouted as she jogged over and hugged the gator, almost like he was a giant teddy bear (which is exactly how Sam pictured him).  
The gator smiled down at the girl, but then had to look away.  
Sam titled her head in confusion. "What's wrong?"  
"I recently heard about your plans for this afternoon…" he said as he continued to stare at the wall.  
Sam sighed with a smile. She felt horrible that she was worrying and upsetting so many people, but she'd be a liar to say it didn't feel nice to know so many people cared about her and her well-being.  
"Just make sure the rest of you guys are taking care of yourselves. That's the only thing that will truly upset me, if you guys get hurt because you were worried about me and ignored your jobs, or something like that." She then brought her arm up and scratched the back of her head, making sure that her arm was hiding her lips based on where the security cameras were angled. "Our revenge will come soon enough" she mouthed with a smile. She made sure to switch back to a serious expression before revealing her face to the cameras again.  
Leatherhead gave a small nod. The expression didn't look like much, but they all knew that that was his way of saying that he felt the exact same way.  
"Alright everyone, get your gear on and go to your positions. I've laid out instructions at each station. Let's get to work" Leatherhead announced, and the group of 5 went to a small space towards the back of the room and saw what they needed and where they needed to be.  
Sam quickly put on her smock, gloves, goggles, everything she needed and then walked over towards two other girls. They were walking back and forth between a small walkway. On their left was a table with all types of organized and splayed out small dishes with various type of mutagens, and on their right were closed in stations where they were separated by a see through barrier, but there were spaces where they could still put their arms and any other materials that they needed to enter and exit the space. This way they were safe if any materials exploded or did anything else that would cause harm to the one who was experimenting with them.  
"Alright nerdssssssss, what are we up to today?" Sam asked with a smirk.  
Jillian giggled while Lindsay rolled her eyes and smiled.  
"We're examining the particles in each mutagen, then seeing what happens when we combine them. Based on those results we have to determine whether or not they're safe enough for human trials" Jillian said.  
Sam's goofy expression quickly turned to one of sorrow. "When's that?" she asked dully.  
"Literally tomorrow. Ugh, I'm dreading it" Lindsey said, "whether its criminals or innocents, I can't stand human trials. Sometimes its fine and we can reverse whatever we did to them, but other days it's so bad that we have to put them out of their misery."  
"And of course Shredder doesn't care what happens as long as he gets some good info about the mutagen he can then one day use to create an army. Did you know he's trying to figure out how to use certain deadly mutagens and turn them into weapons?" Jillian asked.  
"Are you serious?" Sam asked as she looked through the microscope lens and then back up at the screen above the closed in space. A chord was connected to the microscope so that any images from the lens were then projected onto the larger screen. "He's such a child, never happy with the toys he already has" she said as she shook her head. "Whoa, definitely keep this one away from human trials" she said as she then turned to the side and began making notes and filling out the loads of paperwork of charts that needed to be completed for each and every combination of mutagen that was tested.  
"What's wrong with that one?" Nathan asked as he then brought over new samples and collected the ones that were now finished being used and then refilling the dishes that were still needed to be tested but the mutagen within them had already been used.  
"The combinations of the cells are creating a pattern that are similar to the one that, well, blew up that one guy" Sam said with a cringe. "Hey, why are you filling and refilling? Usually you're working with the computers or something."  
"Well, even though I'm the techy genius that I am" he said with a playfully cocky expression, "I'm also one of the few who knows how to organize and properly take care of these materials, so some days I'm needed to help aide in properly storing them away and treating them with care. Basically I'm being used for safety reasons. I was in your spot earlier, but I guess our generous leader wanted to give you a fun job before…yeah" he trailed off.  
"Ugh, you guys are all so emotional" Sam said as she finished logging the endless amounts of information about the mutagen and then began clearing her area for the next combination that was needed to be observed.  
"It's not our faults, we all know too well how bad Shredder can get" Amanda said as she looked up from her own station on the other side of the room. "I mean I literally got kicked in the stomach every time I couldn't perform, like I can't even remember which technique we were learning, but whatever it was I wasn't learning at a fast enough pace. So I was sent to where he trains and he literally kicked me every time I messed up the kick. I literally couldn't move for the next two days. Freaking ridiculous" Amanda said as she shook her head, her face telling of how scared she was as her mind sent her back to that horrible day.  
Nathan was the next to talk. "Oh I got one. When I was first brought here, there was a day when I wasn't able to fix his computer fast enough, like he was literally standing behind me as I was working which wasn't intimidating or anything-"  
"No of course not!" Sam exclaimed, joining in on his sarcasm.  
"Exactly. So then I needed to go get some tools to finish working on the computer and apparently I was supposed to magically know what the problem was before I even started to work and I should have brought my tools with me ahead of time, and because I failed at being prepared for what was to come, I had to go through an alertness exercise. Basically, he got 5 Purple Dragons guys to beat the crap out of me for a solid hour" he said as he shook his head.  
"You got revenge against them eventually though, right?" Hatchiko asked from a closet space where he was also doing some organizing of his own.  
"Ahhh I remember that day. Twas a beautiful sight" Genghis teased as he looked into his microscope while also typing on his computer.  
"Ohhhh yeah! They failed whatever it was that they were supposed to do, and by that time I was ten times stronger, faster, ten times better at everything compared to that previous punishment, and let's just say I had some fun that night" he said with a wicked smile.  
"Normally I would condemn someone for saying something like that, but sadly that's what this place does to you. I've felt the same way when in similar situations. I used to hate people who found enjoyment in hurting others, yet I've become one of them" Tara said as she momentarily spaced out before Nathan put his hand on her shoulder, bringing her back to reality.  
Nathan then saw Kevin sitting the same way back at his station. He just sat there with his eyes glued to the desk in front of him as he fidgeted with his fingers.  
"Hey Kev, everything alright?" Nathan asked.  
Kevin looked up and gave him one of the most depressing expressions he had ever seen. Everyone then paused and turned to face Kevin as he just sat there in silence. He finally spoke, but he continued to look down. "It's my turn to switch…"  
None of them had ever heard him sound so broken and it took them all a moment to realize why switching to another room or station would make him so upset. As the wheels in everyone's head were turning, the main door opened and in walked Karai.  
Sam stopped what she was doing and looked over at Kevin. He finally looked over at her and he mouthed 'I'm sorry' as he stood up and walked over towards her station. As she walked past him she made sure to pat his shoulder before exiting the room. She knew what was coming, but she needed to act strong in front of everyone, and that's exactly what she did.  
"Hey Karai! We going somewhere?" Sam asked in a mockingly happy tone as she pranced over to the obviously annoyed woman.  
"Let's. GO." She said sternly, making it known that she had better things to do and did not want to be here.  
"Awww come on Karai, you have your entire life to be a jerk, why not take today off?" Sam said as she tried to playfully nudge the woman against her arm, but Karai made it known she was not taking this bullshit today. She grabbed the front of Sam's shirt, pulled her in close, and even slightly lifted her off the ground.  
"Fuck you kid" Karai snarled.  
Sam shrugged. "Okay, but I get to be on top" she said with an innocent smile.  
Karai slapped the woman across the face and then spun her around. She pushed Sam against the table in front of her and grabbed her wrists. She then handcuffed Sam's wrists and pulled her backwards.  
"Whoa Karai, I thought we'd wait for the bedroom, but in front of all these people? Huh, kinky" Sam teased.  
"You know, sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut and give the impression that you're stupid rather than open it and remove all doubt" Karai said, shaking the girl as she spoke to her.  
"Sorry, I'm trying to see things from your perspective, but I just can't get my head that far up my ass" Sam said, smiling the entire time.  
Karai punched her in the gut this time. "You just don't know when to quit. This attitude of yours is going to get you killed."  
"Well, I'd rather die strong and confident than as a weak coward" Sam said with a wicked smile as she looked up at the woman.  
Karai shrugged. "At least you have one respectable quality. Say goodbye to your friends, while you can still see them that is. You'll be lucky if you survive the 'fun' time that you're going to have" she said as she then shoved the girl forward and then starting pulling her arm as she lead them to their destination.  
"Bye guys! Stay classy, sassy, and a bit bad assy-"  
And that fast the door slammed behind them.  
"_I never was one for long speeches" _The group heard Sam mumble on the other side of the door, and gradually they heard her sarcastic voice begin to fade. Everyone in the room was experiencing a mix of emotions. Some were already tearing up, and others began to laugh at how courageous their friend was. Even though she was about to be beaten up, possibly killed even, she would never back down and she would always come back with the last word. They all went back to work, but the room was dead silent. Deep down, they were all praying and hoping that they would one day see their friend again. 

***5 minutes later in Shredder's main office*  
**

At this point Karai was literally dragging Sam into the room. Sam had claimed that she had a muscle cramp and that she couldn't walk anymore, so Karai was literally dragging her by her feet into and across the long office area. She dropped the girl's legs and then bowed to her master.  
Shredder had a feeling that the girl would mess around like this. She wasn't one to give in easily and he knew she wouldn't want to give her friends a reason to worry, even though they all knew what was coming. He decided to let her put on her tough act for now since he knew he would break her out of it soon enough.  
"Thank you Karai, you may get back to work now" Shredder said. There was no emotion evident in his voice or his expression, yet the smile Karai had on her face would say otherwise.  
"Thank you master" she said with a bow, and as she turned to exit the room, she sent Sam one last evil smirk, and then she was on her way.  
Sam rolled her eyes. She didn't find the soldier threatening at all but more so annoying than anything. _"Tch, you act all tough, but with a little more training, I could totally kick your ass" _Sam thought to herself. Her thoughts were in her head, but she hadn't realized that she was smiling as she thought this. Shredder on the other hand picked up on this instantly, and now he was frowning with anger.  
"Something funny Samantha?" he asked in a low tone.  
The girl sighed and turned towards the man standing above her. "No sir." Now was the time to start acting serious, or else things would get even worse.  
Shredder picked up on this change in her attitude, and for the first time he formed a small devilish smirk on his face. "So, Sam, I hear you were very clumsy the other night and let yourself get caught."  
Sam stared at him, making sure not to be nasty, but still standing her ground and not showing any weakness. "I wasn't clumsy, I was being protective. Unlike you I actually care about the people here, or at least I care about certain ones, and I wanted to protect them from our unexpected guests."  
"Oh, you had guests? Do you know who they were?" he asked, continuing to display his devilish smile.  
"The turtles…" she mumbled.  
"Speak louder" he snarled.  
"The TURTLES."  
"So, I guess you weren't able to find a place where you could hide from them?"  
"Well that's not new news, your guys get caught by them all the time" she said blandly.  
Shredder was fuming now. "Are you diminishing my men?"  
"No, I'm just saying that they're good at tracking people. I mean they are animal mutants, aren't you training your mutant army to learn the same skills?"  
Shredder knew this was true, so he let this one go. As much as he honored his clan, sadly they were always getting caught by the turtles and usually it was the turtles who walked away with way less injuries.  
"Alright, so how did you get caught?"  
"I was distracted when-"  
"Oh Samantha," Shredder said as he shook his head, "You WERE in a leader's position, what does that mean?"  
"…forget about everyone else and make sure to escape and bring all important information straight to you."  
"So why did you allow yourself to get distracted?"  
"I didn't want the new trainees to get hurt by the turtles. I saw one take a serious blow, and that's when I was de-masked."  
"So, you broke two rules. Not only did you get caught, but you revealed your identity, which can also endanger the rest of the clan."  
"Yes sir. If it means anything, I allowed all other soldiers to escape though."  
"Why do I care?"  
"Because that means I was the only one in communication with the turtles that night, and I swear on my life that nothing about your operations here were mentioned. Even if I had wanted to do something as stupid as reveal any of your plans, I was instantly silenced and even abused by them." She knew that last part was extremely exaggerated, but at this point she needed to do whatever it took to possibly save her ass at least some.  
Shredder nodded, accepting this little bit.  
"What happened when you were captured? Where were you taken?" he asked.  
"They took me to their home."  
He raised his eyebrows, wondering if she was finally going to give up his enemy's location.  
"They took you their home?"  
"Yes."  
"Where was the location of their new home?"  
_"Whelp, time to play dumb" _Sam thought to herself as she formed a confused look upon her face. "Their new home, sir?"  
"Yes, their NEW home. Where was it?"  
"It was the same location as last time sir."  
Shredder was balling up his fists now and it was obvious he was growing even more furious. "It couldn't be the same location as last time, we've checked millions of times now and they're NEVER THERE."  
"I'm sorry sir, but that's the only place they've ever taken me. They might have cleared out already after they found out I was part of your clan, and for that I apologize. But that's the only place-"  
"ENOUGH!" the man shouted as he stood up and then started walking towards the girl kneeling on the ground in front of him. He brought his hand back up each time right before he began to speak to her.  
"You disobeyed an order as to how a leader of the Foot clan should act, *slap* in doing so you allowed yourself to get caught, *slap* and then you let them see your face *slap*. If anyone else had allowed all of this to happen then I would kill them on the spot, so I'm going to give you one last chance to tell me the truth as to where the turtles are hiding before I have to get really violent."  
At this point he was now holding the girl by the front of her shirt and they were face to face. Regardless, Sam would never give up on her friends. It didn't matter to her if they all hated her or not, she would rather die than give up their location and allow them to get captured by Shredder.  
She gritted her teeth together as she spoke, deciding that if these were her last words, then she would stay strong and die with honor. "And I'm going to tell you one last time that the only place they've ever taken me to is the location that you attacked last year. That's the only home they've ever introduced me to, so get over it and move on."  
Shredder then twisted his body as he flipped the girl over his shoulder and onto her back, which hurt even more since her arms were still handcuffed behind her back.  
"Am I a joke to you?!" Shredder said as he kicked the girl in a way that had her standing back up on her feet.  
"Of course not, but even the greatest of leaders can be duped. If they have another home, they never introduced me to it. Heh, they never did truly trust me. Sorry Shredder, but I got nothing for you. It's up to you whether you kill someone who could become one of your greatest soldiers."  
"Heh, you?" he asked as he kicked her in the stomach. "You think you can become a true Foot soldier?"  
_"Sure, whatever I have to say so that I don't die."_  
Shredder pulled the girl by her shirt so that she was now standing up.  
"I can't offer you information now, but I could become a great soldier with the proper training. Check my records, within the few days I've been here I've already beaten out everyone else in my groups."  
"I know that already" he said as he swiped his leg by her knees, making her crash down onto the floor. This time Sam hit her head really hard on the floor, but she refused to groan out in pain, and instead fought her hardest to sit back up and face the man.  
"That's why you were given a leader's band so early on" the man continued as he walked over and grabbed a sword from the wall. "You know, you won the record for three things: being the youngest person to earn a leader's band, the first person to earn a band within less than a week of joining the clan, and also for losing the band quicker than anyone else." He then held the sword out so that it was resting very close to her face, but there was a small enough space between the weapon and the girl that the two were not yet touching. "I should just kill you now, you and your brother. Give me reasons why I shouldn't."  
Sam spoke with a sly grin. "1. Killing us would bring us joy since we would be reunited with our assassinated family. 2. With the proper training, I can get revenge against the turtles for you. They're soft, and they're weak. They're not stupid, but all four of them are very emotional. After some time, they might allow me to be friends with them again, and that's when I'll convince them to reveal ALL their secrets to me, and once I get your needed information, you can attack and capture them once again and do whatever you would like to them. But I need time sir, a good amount of time, both to improve my skills and also to gain back their trust."  
Shredder thought about what the girl said. He wasn't sure if he could trust this girl just yet, but once she would have been with the clan for a longer period of time, maybe she would be brainwashed to truly despise the turtles and to truly want to work for him. It wouldn't be the first time it had happened, and she wouldn't be the last to fall victim to these mental changes as well. He brought his sword up and brought it back down as it swiftly grazed against Sam's cheek as a long strip of red began to slowly bleed out. He was a bit shocked that the girl had never blinked or even flinched as he cut her.  
"Hmph, I must admit that your confidence and mental strength is admirable. For that, I'll take you up on this offer Samantha. I'll let you continue on with your trainings so that one day you can attack and capture the turtles yourself. You can kill the rat, but I'll want the turtles alive. Get close to Lotus, she's an assassin I had sent over from Japan and she's one of my best soldiers from the Tokyo branch."  
Sam nodded. "Thank you sir, I won't let you down" she said with a bow, but in her head she knew that the revolution within the Foot would have occurred way before a time for her to attack the turtles would ever come.  
"For now though," Shredder continued, "I'm going to have you start your very first class: pain toleration" he said, smiling like he was the devil himself.  
He then called out to some soldiers nearby and within seconds they were rolling in karts that had all types of weapons on them. One of the soldiers, with permission from their master of course, went over and unlocked Sam's handcuffs as Shredder walked over towards an ash tray and started heating up one end of a metal whip. He then turned around and walked over to Sam, nodding to the soldiers in the room. The soldiers nodded and then walked over and stripped Sam of the majority of her clothes so that she was now wearing nothing but a solid black sports bra and a small pair of black spandex shorts.  
Shredder cracked the whip so that it slammed against the floor right next to where Sam's hand was, and again he was shocked at how she didn't flinch and how well she was keeping herself calm and composed.  
"Samantha, it's about noon now. Your schedule is free for the rest of the day, correct?"  
"Yes" Sam mumbled.  
"In that case, we have until 10 tonight to learn as many lessons as we can. Let's start with lesson one: how to handle intense burns" he stated aloud as he then cracked the whip over and over and over again, landing somewhere new on Sam's body each time he snapped the whip. 

***9:00p.m. in Sam's room*  
Theme:  
Red-Hymn for the Missing  
**

Mikey carefully opened the window that lead into Sam's room since there was no one there to set the alarm. In a way he had wished there would have been someone there and they would have had to acknowledge his presence when shutting the alarm down, but he was able to walk right into the room. 

His brothers tried to stop him, but ever since Sam had left the way she had, every night Mikey would go up to Sam's apartment and spend the night there in hopes that his friend would return. His brother's decided that this was his way of coping with what had happened since Mikey had become much closer to Sam than the rest of them had, so they decided to let him be until he was fed up and broke this habit. 

In reality, Mikey was planning on doing this every night until he got some answers. He still didn't know what Raph had said to Sam to make her act the way she did, and no matter what the rest of his family said, he knew that the person they had kidnapped nights before was NOT his best friend. Maybe it was a clone, or she had been brainwashed, or maybe she had been kidnapped and forced to join, it had to be something! Mikey knew that Sam couldn't have just walked in and signed up to join the Foot clan, and he just knew that there was no way she had always been a member before the two had met. Something must have happened between the night she left for her tournament and the night they captured her and brought her back to the lair. He knew that if she had been a part of the Foot, then he and his brothers would have been captured a long time ago. Shredder doesn't play around, and Michelangelo knew that as soon as Shredder gained any information about their whereabouts that he would have planned an attack the moment Sam had spilled any details about them, and she had learned A LOT about them. 

"Sam, what happened to you?" Mikey sighed as he laid down on her bed. 

He hated the way she had left and he so badly regretted not stopping her and giving her a chance to speak. He could tell that she had something she wanted to get off her chest, but even he had felt so upset and betrayed that he let his emotions get the best of him and he joined his brothers in kicking her out of their lives, and now he feared that he would really never see her ever again. 

As he lie in the bed he brought his hands up to his eyes as he tried to cover up his silent tears. He couldn't keep himself from crying as he thought of the worst possibilities. For whatever reason he felt that Sam was in danger, and he cried as he thought of the cruel things that Shredder might be doing to her right at this very moment. And then he thought of the worst thing possible: what if something happened where Sam was killed? What if she looked at Shredder the wrong way and he decided to go bat shit crazy on her and it resulted in her death? Mikey realized that if something serious did happen to Sam, his last words to her were to 'just go' and this realization had him balling his eyes out as he lost control of his emotions. 

Eventually after he had calmed himself down, he then began rapidly shaking his head.  
"No, I promised that I'd take care of her…and that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to find you Sam, I promise" he said to himself. He didn't care if it took years to find his friend, as long as he was still breathing then he vowed to make sure that Sam came home safe and sound. He had promised on Amber's grave that he would keep Sam safe, and he wouldn't rest until he kept up on that promise.

Author's Note: Don't worry, the turtles will be back in the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I love chapters like this where you start learning about pieces of the puzzle that has been set all throughout the series. Hope you guys are enjoying the story!


	22. Chapter 22

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. **

Chapter #22 

***Sunday August 10****th*****  
**

Raph was quickly and forcefully hitting the speed punching bag in his room. He had barely left his room since the incident unless it was for necessities like food. He was prepared to leave if one of his brothers called about another robbery or about any type of criminal activity that they could try to stop, but from what all the turtles knew, no serious crimes had been committed besides the robberies where Sam was involved. As soon as he even thought of her name and her face Raph instantly started growling and hitting the punching bag even quicker and harder. He was pissed at her for tricking him the way she had, and he was even more pissed at himself for falling for her tricks. Mikey had always been the soft-hearted member of the family who was vulnerable to tricks like these, yet he had allowed himself to fall victim to the girl's lies as well. How could he be so stupid? How could he let her take advantage of him like that?! And why couldn't he hit this bag with more power?! 

Just then the small bag flew off the hinges and slammed into the wall. Now that he wasn't punching the heck out of something, Raph started to calm himself down. It wasn't until that moment that he had realized how loud and fast his breaths had become. He began to wonder how long he had sounded like this, but then just shrugged it off as he walked out of the room and across the living room to the circular opening near the dojo that had a bunch more workout equipment and supplies. 

"You need another bag?" Came a voice from one of the tables at the eatery nearby.  
Raph looked over and saw their family friend April sitting down by herself.  
"Oh, hey" Raph said as he took yet another bag from the pack, and then shrugged his shoulder as he dropped that bag back into the packaging and then decided to take the pack of all ten to his room instead. "Yeah, these things must be getting lighter and lighter, they fly off the hinges and get messed up when they hit the wall."  
"That or you're getting stronger" April said, making a statement but making it obvious that she was questioning him and was curious as to why he was doing this in the way she said it.  
Raph just shrugged, acting like he had no idea what she was talking about. "So why are you out here all by yourself?"  
"Well, I came to check up on you guys after I heard what happened, but I can tell that no one really wants any company" she said as she stared down at the table. She wasn't used to the lair being so quiet, or quiet at all really, so she wasn't exactly sure what to do with herself.  
Raph grinned over at her and nodded his head for her to follow him, and with a small smile she did so.  
The two went back to Raph's room where they both continued to talk about various different things. They both talked about the members of their family, what they had been up to lately, typical small talk. This continued on until Raph eventually knocked his third punching bag off of the hinges and into the wall.  
"Okay, I know you're incredibly strong, but you NEVER destroy this huge number of punching bags in one day. What's with the immense amount of strength being used today compared to usual?" April asked sternly but with concern.  
"I don't know what you're talking about" Raph said as he started setting up another bag.  
"Raph…"  
He could tell by her tone that she was really getting worried, so he dropped the bag and turned to make sure his door was shut before he stood and faced her.  
"Look, you know I won't do anything, but please-"  
"You should know by now that I won't tell anyone anything, and if you don't know that then I'd feel extremely insulted. Just saying" April stated as she crossed her arms across her chest.  
Raph gave her a small smile before going back to his serious expression.  
"I don't know how to explain it. I just…I keep thinking back to that night. It's the same as when we first met her, I knew we never should have trusted her. I don't think I've ever felt so betrayed in my entire life. I know I'm the hot head, but when…but when…"  
Raph hadn't realized how worked up he was getting and how fast his temper was increasing, and this was just from thoughts of what had recently happened.  
"But when what happened?" April asked.  
Raph paced back and forth across the room as he spoke.  
"I kept hoping that it wasn't her. I kept telling myself it wasn't her, and when I pulled the mask of their leader, it was her! When we first met her, the second time she had ever stepped foot into our home, I got a bad vibe from her and knew that something was wrong about her. Ohhhh she did a good job at convincing all of us that she was this innocent girl who had been through tons of hardship from losing all of her family to the Foot, but all those bad vibes came back the moment I saw her face under the mask, literally and figuratively. I should have known better than to believe all her lies about her and her past and about her family."  
"Is that what you said to her that night, that her past was a lie?" April asked in a concerned tone.  
Raph paused as he realized what he had just accidentally confessed to doing, but he knew he would have to come clean about everything that had happened that night eventually, and now seemed to be the time.  
"Yeah, I called her out on her bluffs. She had gone on with the act long enough, so I told her that I wasn't taking her b.s. anymore. How could she say that she hated the Foot and feared them when she was wearing a leader's armband? That's proof that she had to have been a member for a long time in order to earn that" he stated as he shook his head the entire time.  
April sighed and hoped that Raph wouldn't hate her for what she was about to say.  
"Raph, I know you don't want to hear this, but everything Sam told you about her past was true."  
Raph stopped walking and stood still. He turned towards April and shot her an angry look. "What?"  
"There's a woman that I'm good friends with at my work and she's the mother of Jay's girlfriend, aka she'll eventually be part of Sam's family one day when Jay and his girlfriend get married. The woman's name is Irma, and she's told me about her future son in law's past and about his family. I didn't know that Sam was the girl in her stories until I met Sam the day you guys met her for the first time. But I've talked to Sam about it and confirmed that she was the girl that Irma talked about in the stories about Jay. So everything Sam has told you about the Foot killing off everyone except for her and Jay is accurate. Those weren't lies, it was all the truth."  
Raph clenched his fists as he heard this information. "Then why is she with them? It doesn't make any sense! And those weren't the only things she lied about, what about…" he trailed off as he looked down at the ground.  
"What's wrong Raph?" April asked.  
This was the part that Raph was truly embarrassed about.  
"She…she was different that night, the night we caught her and brought her back from the initiation. The others went to go talk about how to handle the situation, and after her and I started arguing…she literally kicked me into the wall. And her eyes, her eyes are brown right?" he asked as he looked back up at the woman in front of him.  
April nodded. She was shocked to see him transition from his pissed off attitude to a more nervous one.  
"The white part of her eyes turned blue when she kicked me, and gusts of wind flew away from her. It was like she was possessed. Somehow she had this incredible strength, I mean she was stronger than me! But she didn't look any different. There's no way that she just magically became that strong within a few days, that doesn't just happen to people."  
"Raph, are you afraid of her?" April asked gently. She didn't want him to feel offended, but his tone had become much more timid compared to his usual rough voice.  
"I don't think so, but…I don't know. I'm more angry than anything, but, but I thought we knew so much about her, and then she shows up like that. Nothing makes sense anymore. And then when we fought, she was so strong that she could have killed me. Mikey literally saved my life that night. I wasn't even that scared when we fought Shredder. How did she become so strong? Was that something she kept from us? How much else has she kept from us? What if that wasn't even the full extent to whatever powers she has?"  
"Do you think there was anything that might have set off her powers?"  
"What do you mean?" Raph asked.  
"You said you two were arguing, right? Maybe she had a trigger, like you accusing her of lying." April then stood up and walked over to the turtle that towered over her, and she gave him a hug. He was a bit shocked, but he still hugged her back, and in the moment it actually felt nice.  
She then pulled back and looked up at him.  
"You have to put yourself in her shoes Raph. I know that's the last thing you want to hear, but if someone had said you were lying about something serious about your family, don't you think you might go berserk as well?"  
Raph paused, not wanting to answer the question.  
"I feel the same way as you in wondering how much she was and still is hiding from you guys, but something just doesn't add up in the whole situation."  
"Hmph, you should be telling all this to Mikey. He's the one that's still infatuated with her."  
"That's because Mikey is the only one who hasn't given up hope yet."  
Raph was speechless at that point. He knew April wasn't wrong though. Raph knew that Leo and Donnie were on his side in never wanting to see Sam again, at least he thought they still felt that way, but Mikey still had all this faith that he would find Sam again and that she would talk to him. Raph slowly turned away from April. He grunted as he looked away and down at the floor.  
"I hear what you're saying, but things will never be the same now, not after what she's done. If she had something to tell us, then she should have told us. If all this is some crazy mixed up situation, then it shows how much she trusted us."  
April sighed and went to exit the room. "If you want her out of your life, then you have that right. You experienced a situation with her that no one else will ever understand. But think of it this way, whatever her reasons were for joining the Foot, would you have really supported her to begin with, or would you have treated her the same way you did that night?"  
Raph paused, not moving and not saying anything, not sure how to respond.  
"I'm going to go check on your other brothers. Please, just don't hurt yourself or do anything you'll regret."  
And with that April walked out of the room and shut the door behind her.  
Once the room was silent, Raph walked back over to his bed and laid down. He understood what April was saying, and being brutally honest he did regret saying what he had to Sam that night. He knew he had pushed the boundaries too far, but she still could have killed him. That was the first thing that he couldn't get out of his head. The second was that she obviously didn't trust them, so he would no longer trust her. She made it clear where all their relationships stood and that was something he would never forget. There were still so many secrets she was hiding from them and this infuriated Raph more than anything. After all the time they had all spent together, for his brothers to basically call Sam their sister, for all of that to happen just to find out that she was still sneaking around behind their backs and lying to them. He hadn't realized how hard he was clenching his fists together until he was able to smell the blood that was coming from his palms.  
He sat up and walked to the entrance to the bathroom in the corner of his room and started washing his hands.  
_"I don't care anymore what her situation is or was, the girl is bad news. The fact that she's getting me this worked up, she's bad for my health, and I know she has everyone else all messed up as well. I hope we never see her again."  
_And these were Raph's final thoughts before he went back to his bed and fell asleep from exhaustion after the non-stop workouts he had had from punching the speed bags over and over and over again. 

***In the lab*  
**

Donnie kept furiously pacing back and forth in his laboratory. Usually just working on one of his multiple projects would calm him down and soon after things would be normal for him again and he could think clearly about whatever it was that had upset him in the first place, but this was a rare case. Nothing had ever upset him so much that even nerding out couldn't help him think straight. His stress reliever was useless this time, and that began to make him even more upset. He was upset at how betrayed he felt but he was even more heated about the fact that he had been defeated. He knew that he and his brothers had won in the moment by stopping Sam from hurting Raph anymore than she already had, but he felt that they all were beaten in the game of reality. In Donnie's eyes the worst part was that he wasn't even sure what was and wasn't true, so he wasn't sure how much he had been crushed. Did she beat them a little to the point that it was like she had pushed their faces into the dirt, or were they buried underground from how much Sam had crushed them? 

He slammed his hand down on the desk. He couldn't believe that he who was the genius of the group had let someone toy with him as much as Sam had. He wanted to believe that she was telling the truth, but god she made things so difficult. Of course they would have helped her if she said that she had any reason where she needed to join the Foot…right? He thought about it and wondered how he and his brothers would have reacted if she had told them before that night, but now it didn't matter since she went against any possibility that would have come from that decision, and obviously she didn't want their help anyway or else she would have given them a chance and would have gone straight to them. That's what family does, they rely on each other and help support each other no matter what, didn't she know that? 

Donnie slammed his fist down on the desk once again. _"Obviously she doesn't know that because she's not our family! Family doesn't betray each other the way she did! God what am I thinking?!" _Donatello thought as he grabbed the sides of his head with his hands and continued to furiously walk bath and forth across the room. He kept wondering where he went wrong. Was hanging out with her at places like the museum going too far and letting her get to close to him? Or maybe helping her out during training sessions was letting her get to close? No, what if letting her into his lab, or even letting her visit the lair was where the lies and secrets began? Was any of what she had ever told them the truth? Was everything fake, or was it true? But then that didn't explain why she had a leader's armband which signified she had been a part of the Foot clan for a decent amount of time. None of it made sense. The only thing that made sense was that she had played them with her sob stories and had taken advantage of the friendship they had all shared and that she was planning something ten times worse than what had happened the other night, and that made Donnie furious. 

He had become so livid that he stormed over to where his computer was and had pulled open a draw and yanked out a flash drive. It was going to be a surprise for Sam and Donnie thought that it would mean a lot to her, but now he wasn't so sure. Nights before Sam had disappeared, Donnie had asked her if he could borrow the flash drive with all the pictures she had shown the boys on the night of her siblings anniversary, and before he had gotten to work he had asked Sam if she would be interested in him combining pictures of the two families so that even though they had never met, it would look like the two had grown up together. He reassured his friend that both the real and the edited pictures would be saved to the flash drive, and Donnie couldn't recall a time where he had seen Sam any happier than after he had explained to her all the details of the project. 

After he had picked up the drive, he clutched it in his hand and launched his arm backwards. He was ready to throw it and he wanted to so bad. This would both be him getting revenge on the girl for all that she had done to endanger his family, but it would also be a way for him to help wipe her clean from his memories. If there weren't any more pictures for him to remember her by, then eventually she would be wiped from his memories as well. He stood there with his arm launched back…and he stood there…and continued to stand there until finally he gave up and tossed the drive back onto the table. He sighed as he plopped down in his swivel chair and put his hands behind his head that he now let carefully rest on the table. 

"Hey" came a gentle voice from the doorway.  
Donnie moved his arms so that they were in his lap, but his head was still on the table as he turned it to face the person in the doorway. He saw April standing there with a concerned expression on her face.  
"Sorry if I'm barging in. The door was closed and I knocked a few times, but you never answered, so I slowly opened the door and walked in" she said softly.  
"Don't worry its fine" he said as he sat up and nodded his head for her to come in.  
April closed the door and walked over to the bed that Donnie had in the corner of his lab.  
"So, you finally found a case you can't crack?" April asked, trying to carefully cheer her friend up from his mental struggles, and she succeeded slightly.  
"Heh, yeah. Something like that" he said as he turned his head back the other way towards his desk.  
"Well, at least you're not breaking things like the second oldest."  
"He broke another bag?" he asked, the concern leading him to turn his head towards April again. "Man, those things aren't easy to get ahold of" Donnie said as he rubbed the side of his head.  
"It's gotten so bad that he took an entire pack of the bags to his room, and within the first 45 minutes of us talking he broke another 3" April said.  
"Ugh, well from now on he can go find new ones" Donnie groaned.  
"Everyone has their ways of coping, and his way is by physically letting out steam, and apparently he can only do so by breaking things" the woman said with a shrug.  
"At least his coping method is working" Donnie stated.  
April gave him a puzzled look. "You always build or fix something whenever you're stressed. Isn't that what you were doing with that flash drive? I assumed you were a bit distracted and had messed up somewhere and that's why you were going to throw it against the wall, because it wasn't perfect enough to meet your standards."  
Donnie looked down at his hands as he answered. "It had pictures of Sam on it. I was working on a project for her. But it's not needed anymore." He looked off to the side as he finished speaking his thoughts.  
April wasn't sure whether she should continue to question him or not, but she decided to give it a shot and see if it would help her friend out in anyway.  
"So did you want to destroy the flash drive to erase Sam from your life, or to get back at her?"  
"For both of those reasons honestly. I'm still cross about what she did to Raph, I mean jeez she literally could have killed him if Mikey hadn't intervened. I don't even know how she got that strong. How long has she been hiding that from us? Was having us train her just for show and really she could have beaten all of us to a pulp at any time? What's even real anymore?" Donnie said, not realizing he was clenching his fists together while talking.  
"And that's why you want to erase her, right? Because you guys all feel so betrayed?" April asked softly.  
"Not just betrayed, or at least I feel more than just that. I feel like a complete idiot for letting her into my life. I'm frustrated from the fact that I let someone get close to me that I fell into their trap. I'm supposed to be the genius of the family and know the outcome of anything that we gamble with, and I was wrong. Usually I can tell what's really happening behind the scenes and for the first time I couldn't see through the cracks. She took me to the Natural History Museum, did I ever tell you that?"  
April shook her head.  
"Well she did. I let her talk me into it and we went to a few other places that were similar to that nature. She played me and I NEVER let people play me like that because I can tell what they're up to. She did what she needed to get past me and she succeeded. I can't believe it, and because I fell into her trap I gave her the chance to harm my family."  
Donnie shook his head, making it known how ashamed he was in himself.  
April hated seeing the guys this way. She hated seeing Raph so lost in his fear and worry about the way Sam had treated them, and she hated seeing Donnie seem so broken and defeated from not being able to read Sam's thoughts and actions beforehand.  
"If it means anything, I can confirm some of what you're worrying about" April stated.  
Donnie looked her straight in the eye. "How?"  
"There's a woman that I'm good friends with at my work and she's the mother of Jay's girlfriend, aka she'll eventually be part of Sam's family one day when Jay and his girlfriend get married. The woman's name is Irma, and she's told me about her future son in law's past and about his family. I didn't know that Sam was the girl in her stories until I met Sam the day you guys met her for the first time. But I've talked to Sam about it and confirmed that she was the girl that Irma talked about in the stories about Jay. So everything Sam has told you about the Foot killing off everyone except for her and Jay is accurate. Those weren't lies, it was all the truth."  
Donnie's jaw dropped a bit after hearing what April had to say. "But, if all that she said about her siblings was true, then why would she be with the Foot? It just doesn't make sense, nothing makes sense" he said as he grabbed the sides of his head in frustration again.  
"Sadly I don't have any answers to that part. I don't know anything about her powers either. Something seems off about this whole situation, but I get the feeling that you don't want to go into depth about all the possibilities just yet" April said with a small smile.  
Donnie returned the expression. "Not just yet, the wounds are still too fresh. Maybe when I'm able to work on some type of project again then I'll talk more about it. But I really don't want to keep talking about her, it just makes me angrier. Heh, I sound like Raph, don't I?" he said with a light chuckle, proving that talking to the woman had somewhat helped him feel better for the time being.  
"At least you're willing to talk about it one day and figure out what's going on. Apparently Raph is set on keeping her out of his and the rest of your lives" she said with in a sorrowful tone.  
"Well, that's how he wanted things to be the first time around, yet he opened up to her to. I have a feeling we're all eventually going to look into what happened, but only when the time is right. I think we'll still need a long time to get over the damage that's already been done."  
April walked over and put her hand on her friends shoulder. "I understand, and I can't imagine how you guys are feeling right now."  
Donnie looked up and smiled at her as he placed his hand over the woman's that had been placed on his shoulder. "Thanks April."  
"It's what family's for. Oh, and if you ever get your nerd funk back, let me know. My lab top has been acting weird and I could use some assistance" she said as she clasped her hands together in front of her lips to thank him ahead of time.  
For the first time in days Donnie displayed a teeth filled smile as he replied. "Yeah, I'll let you know."  
With that, April exited the room and made sure to shut the door behind her. 

Donnie looked back down and then picked up the flash drive. He still felt the urge to just throw it in the trash and get rid of it, but at the same time he agreed with April in feeling like something just wasn't right about this whole situation. He thought over every possible scenario and wondered which of the hundreds he came up with could have possibly been the correct one. He let out a long sigh as he stood up and walked the drive back to its spot in the drawer. As upset as he was about everything that happened, he still had a small bit of hope that maybe everything was just a huge misunderstanding. The percent chance that this was a misunderstanding was very low, but it wasn't at 0% yet, so he decided to hang on to the drive until proof and evidence was able to sway his final decision. 

***Living room of the lair*  
**

Leo was sitting in front of the television, but he was doing so just for the white noise. If someone had walked in and asked what he had been watching then he would have had no idea what to tell them. This had become a normal routine for him. He would just sit somewhere and stare off into space and listen to nothing but his thoughts until someone or something had awakened him from his daydreams. 

He just couldn't escape from what he had seen days earlier, and he knew that all his brothers had similar feelings about the events that had taken place that night as well. He could sense that Raph felt anger but also fear from what he had experienced, Donnie felt frustrated and defeated in not being able to sense these events coming ahead of time, Mikey felt regret and sorrow for not being able to make the situation better, and Leo himself felt more confused than anything, especially after what he had just learned. He wasn't sure where this conversation took place, but while he was in his room he had received a call from April and heard her talking to Raph. That's when he heard her talk about the woman named Irma from her work and what she had to say about Sam's past. And then there was Raph's confession about what he had said to Sam, and Leo still wasn't sure what to make of that, but he would deal with that at a better and more appropriate time. He assumed that April had butt dialed them since she never acknowledged Leo in the call, and he knew that Mikey must have been a part of the butt dial as well since the youngest brother had stormed away as Leo went to walk over to the couch where Mikey had been sitting. 

This information definitely brought a huge amount of questions into play. If what Sam had said about her past was true, then why was she with the Foot? This was the biggest question of all and of course all of the brothers wanted to know the answer, but right now only one of them was ready to search for that answer, and that one was about to walk by right now. 

Leo wouldn't have noticed him if it wasn't for how loud his footsteps were, but because of the volume coming from how he walked Leo had sensed Mikey walk past the screen in front of him.  
Leo stood up. "Where are you going?" he asked with strict concern as he picked up on his brother's angered expression.  
"Same place as usual" Mikey replied in a nasty tone, not once looking at his older brother.  
Leo disliked the way his brother spoke, but he made sure to keep himself calm since he knew his brother only replied this way because of how much pain he was in.  
"Mikey stop."  
"Why?" Mikey asked as he deadpanned and stared his brother right in the eye as he stood by the exit way from the lair. "My best friend could be in danger and if she returns home then maybe I can talk her out of returning to the Foot clan."  
"We don't know her reasoning for joining Mikey and we don't know if-"  
"If what? If she's plotting to attack us? I'm not that stupid Leo. I know that if she was truly trying to harm us then the Foot would have found us already. We'd be bruised and bloody from some type of attack if they knew our location. Hell, Sachs talked to April for a few minutes and within those couple hours later our home was destroyed, so why would he now be kind enough to give us 5 days to prepare for him? Why would he make us wait?"  
Leo paused. He was shocked at how much his baby brother, the goofball of the family, had thought about this. While the rest of the brothers were to hurt to think further into what had happened, Mikey was already thinking about what was going on and was looking for answers to what had already happened.  
"Even so, we still don't understand everything."  
"What else is there to not understand and question?"  
"How about the fact that she had monstrous strength that almost killed your brother?" Leo asked, unintentionally shoving the nasty tone back at his brother. However, this did get Mikey to settle down some as he realized that Leo was right.  
"Still," the youngest stated softly yet sternly, "something isn't right. I'm outraged from the fact that Raph could allow himself to say something so cruel to Sam, but Raph had treated her like shit when they first met as well and she never responded by treating him like that, she would never mean to kill…" he paused as he tried to fight himself from getting emotional, "she would never purposefully do that."  
"Mikey," Leo said in a softened tone, "there's a chance that everything we knew about Sam is wrong. We don't know what was and what wasn't a lie and what else she has hidden completely from us."  
"I know you got that call to Leo, and you know that what she said about her family is the truth."  
"That's one thing out of many things Mikey. We don't know about where her powers came from and if us training her was just and act or not, we don't know if she truly was alone or if she had others watching and spying on us, we don't if her interests are real or if she pretended to like things we did just to get close to us or not, and we still don't know her official reasons for joining the Foot."  
"And that's why I'm going to question her once I see her again. I'll be the one to get answers while the rest of you just hang out here" Mikey said as he began to turn and walk away.  
"You think we don't want answers? Do you honestly think we're okay with what happened and are just moving on like nothing happened?" Now Leo's blood was beginning to boil a bit.  
"For people that want answers, none of you are doing anything but lying around!" Mikey shouted.  
"Maybe the wounds are still too fresh and deep for some people to treat them yet" came a softer voice on the other side of the room.  
The two turned to see April exiting their brother's lab space and walk over towards where they were standing. "At least, that's how Donnie said he felt about the situation."  
Leo was a bit shocked to see April leaving from Donnie's lab since he thought she was still with Raph. Knowing her, she probably saw him spacing out and decided to talk to Donnie first. As Leo realized how bad his thoughts were controlling his sensory skills, he made sure to continue on with the conversation and try to calm his brother down as best as he could.  
"See?" Leo said, "Donnie is curious as to how things got this way as well, but it's too soon to look into it Mikey."  
Mikey bit his lip to prevent himself from losing control and saying something he would regret. "Fine. You guys take your good old time and figure out things your way when you're ready, but I'm still leaving."  
"And what will you do if you find out that you're the one that's been wrong this entire time? That everything we thought and hoped was true was nothing but a lie?"  
Mikey paused briefly before answering. "I'll deal with that when the time comes. Until then, I'm going to wait for my best friend to come back so I can help her and get the answers that I've been waiting for."  
And with that, Mikey continued on his way up to the surface by his friend's apartment building. 

April sat on the couch. "I guess that's his way of coping?"  
Leo closed his eyes as he sat down and leaned back into the couch. "Yup. He goes up to her room and waits for her until the sun comes up, hoping she'll return for something and that he can talk to her then."  
"I guess you guys don't like that?" April asked as she put a pillow behind her back and leaned back against the arm of the couch as she also kicked her feet up onto Leo's lap.  
"Yes and no. We didn't mind him doing it for a couple of days to cope with losing his best friend, but we didn't expect him to go there every night. I would have been really upset if he had ignored our calls if we needed him to help us catch criminals, but that's the strange thing. Besides for that one robbery, there hasn't been any real criminal activity for the past ten days."  
April titled her head in confusion. "Do you think the Foot are planning something?"  
"I don't know, and sadly none of us have really been looking ahead for signs of any deadly plans like when Sachs and Shredder tried to take down New York last year. Knowing Mikey is away every night makes me worry even more. What if she really is plotting something and he's the bait? Like, say she attacks him when he's in the room with her? Or she talks and convinces him to follow her to headquarters and they capture him there? They know we'll come after them to save Mikey and that could easily lead to all of us getting caught and killed. Maybe that's why nothing has been happening. What if they're waiting for us to come to them rather than them coming to us?"  
"Alright calm down" April said. "I'm worried about him to, but he just proved to you that he's smarter in these type of situations than any of us realized. He knows better than to go to headquarters without you guys."  
"He's done it before. WITH SAM. Crap, what if that day she was trying to capture him then?" Leo remarked, his eyes going wide at the thought.  
"Nooooo, because from what I was told of that day, the only reason he went was because they were sneaking around and listening in on Shredder's plans, and then when things went sour Sam helped him to escape, and then eventually she helped all of you guys escape."  
Leo paused as April's words washed over him. "You're right, that's all true. Ugh then what the hell is she doing?" he asked as he rubbed his hands down his face in exhaustion.  
"It looks like you're closer to where Mikey's mind is than you are to the others" April said with a small smile.  
Leo sighed. "I'm still just as pissed as Raph and Donnie are, but I'd be a liar if I said I didn't want to hunt her down and figure out what the heck is going on. I so badly want to believe that this is all a huge misunderstanding, but at the same time I'm so confused about what we do and don't know that I'm worried about how everything could go wrong, and how quick it could go wrong. I'm stuck in the middle. I want answers as badly as Mikey does, but I still feel the same amount of fear and pain as Raph and Donnie do to want to wait before trying to confront her." 

April put a hand on Leo's shoulder.  
"I definitely think that everyone should do their part in trying to figure out what happened to Sam and learning the real truth, but there's nothing wrong in waiting a bit longer to do so, especially after what she did to Raph. All of you are filled with fear for your own reasons: you fear what could result from all of this, Raph is afraid of the power that almost killed him, Donnie is frightened by the fact that someone may have outsmarted him when it comes to mind games and manipulating people, and Mikey is terrified of what could be happening to his best friend at this very moment. Each of you is experiencing thoughts and feelings that in some ways are similar to the others, yet are also different based on the ways that you each knew and interacted with Sam, including that final time you all spoke with her. Because of this, it's understandable that you're not all ready to face her just yet, and some space between you all might be best so that you can all act rationally when you do finally see her again. Mikey wanting to confront her so soon just defines how he knew Sam and what type of emotions he's feeling right this moment."  
Leo gave his friend a small smile. "You should really write a book one day, you're good at explaining things."  
"Well that's what four years of journalism does to a person" she joked.  
"Thanks April. This really helps."  
"That's what I'm here for. I help with your people problems that you guys are newbs at understanding" she said as she stood up. "Let me know when you guys are ready to start hunting down Sam and I'll let you know what I've found by then."  
Leo squinted his eyes at her. "What are you going to do?" he asked with concern.  
"I'm going to talk to Irma some more and find out what else she knows about Sam's situation."  
"But you're going to do that tomorrow," Leo said as he stood up next to her, "because it's late and you should be heading home now."  
April rolled her eyes. "You know I'm older than you right? As in I can tell you to stay home and you'd have to listen to your elder."  
"Well when you become a giant mutant who can defend them self from being picked up and carried around by others then I'll leave you alone" he said with a triumphant smile.  
April put her hands up in defense. "Alright, alright no one needs to be picked up. I can walk, and I'm walking now."  
"I'll walk with you" Leo said. 

After Leo had made sure that April arrived home safely, he began to think about what she had said about them all looking for Sam on their own time. He knew that his confusion was leading to curiosity, and he knew that this curiosity was beginning to override his other thoughts and emotions about the whole situation. He decided that he wasn't emotionally ready to search for Sam tonight, but even when he was ready, he thought it would be best to keep this to himself for a little while until all his brothers were ready to look for Sam. Mikey would rush into things too quickly, and rushing the others would just lead to more arguing and chaos. So, after spending some time that night meditating on it, maybe he'd be ready to look for her tomorrow night, alone. 


	23. Chapter 23

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. **

Chapter #23 

***Monday August 17****th****. Late at night in Sam's bedroom*  
Themes:  
Big Bang-If You  
**

Sam knew that the alarms should be off in her room since she hadn't been home in weeks to turn them back on, so sneaking into her room was no big deal. What she wasn't expecting was to see a sleeping Michelangelo in her bed as she carefully maneuvered her body through the open window and into the room. Sam wanted to make sure that he was sound asleep before she started moving around her room, so she waited by her window so that she could make a quick escape if it were needed. After a few minutes of little to no sound and no movement, Sam decided she could start gathering what she needed. There were a few tools and devices that she wanted to take with her back to headquarters but also some family related items. She wasn't sure how long she would be staying at the Foot's headquarters, or if she would ever escape from there and get to go back to normal life, so she decided that some smaller familial objects would stay with her at headquarters. Family wise she mainly just wanted Chuck's weapons and the flash-drive with all the pictures on it…and that's when she remembered that both of those things were still back at the lair. 

Sam put her hands on the side of her head in frustration. How could she forget about that?! She quickly thought of how she could steal those objects back and within seconds came up with a plan. She thought over this plan a couple more times and decided that it should work out alright as long as she was careful. A small but sorrowful smile appeared on her face as she thought to herself. _"Heh, even after all of you kick me out of your home I still have a reason to sneak back down there. Sorry guys, but I need that drive and those sais, especially if my last hours on earth end up at headquarters." _Sam was about to walk back towards the window and exit the room…but she couldn't just walk away from Mikey. She looked back over at him and slowly and quietly moved a bit closer to the bed. After all the pranks the two had played on each other, Sam could tell when Mikey was truly asleep, when he was half asleep, or when he was totally faking and wasn't sleeping at all. Because of this she was able to recognize the signs that he was totally out and sound asleep. The girl stood about a foot away from the turtle that way lying on her bed, and after a minute or so she inched her way closer to the point that she was basically standing next to the bed and looking down at him. A small apologetic smile appeared on Sam's face. She knew that there was a chance she would die at headquarters before getting a chance to talk to Mikey and tell him the entire truth and that fact crushed her inside, but everyone had cast her out and at this point it was too dangerous to turn back. Shredder had ten times the number of Foot soldiers hiding at their specific headquarters location and he had all types of mutagens and other chemicals and weapons hiding there. Basically, there were more dangers and threats at headquarters than ever before and Sam didn't want her friends to get hurt, so she decided that she would continue to keep her secrets from the turtles, even if she had to take them with her to an early grave. Still, it hurt her so much to see her best friend (if she could still call him that) just lying there with such a pained expression on his face. She noticed that he wasn't wearing shoes and as she turned her head she saw that they were lying in their normal spot along the wall. Without making a sound, Sam covered her mouth to prevent laughing sobs from slipping out. _"You kick me out of your home and out of your life and yet you still make sure not to put your shoes on my bed" _the girl thought to herself. It was difficult for her to see him this way after their emotional and painful last interaction together. She almost stole his older brother from him after being exposed to hiding important information from them and then she was the reason that each of them had released a dark side of them that she had never seen before, including Michelangelo who in those moments looked at her and talked to her in ways she had never experienced before, and yet here he was lying in her bed waiting for her to return home. And it wasn't just that he was waiting for her but he even remembered such simple things like how much she hated having shoes on her bed. Sam had to force herself to walk away and leave through the window. After she had carefully shut the window she immediately made her way to the rooftops before heading back down towards the sewers. 

She needed to take a few minutes to get her soft yet still hysterical laughter out as she covered her eyes with her hands. How could he be in her bed just lying there? Why did he have to be here in her bed? Why couldn't he be out looking for her somewhere else? Why was he waiting for her and looking for her in general? Sam had done so much damage to the turtles, so why was he trying to find her? She shook her head as she thought of how much she didn't deserve to have him as a best friend. Even now after all that had happened he was still looking out for her and trying to protect her…but she couldn't allow that to happen.  
_"You've always had my back, and even though you pushed me away that night you're STILL trying to protect me. I'll never stop worrying about you either, but I can't let you protect me anymore. I'll never stop loving you and your brothers as my family and that's why I can't let you know about what's happening. I hoped it would be quicker but sadly things are a million times worse with the Foot than I could have ever imagined and I'd rather die than be the reason that you guys get wrapped up in all that's happening. I'm so sorry, but I may never get to talk to you again, and I'm sorry if you never get to truly know why I disappeared…but sadly there are some really messed up things that happen in this world, trust me I know, and this is a path I decided to follow both to protect my new family and to avenge my first. I love all of you guys regardless of how any of you feel about me, so I'm going to keep pushing you all away from me. You need to be safe, I need you to be safe, so this is the final time I'll ever be close to any of you."  
_

Sam took a deep breath and tried to return to a calm and relaxed state as she reminded herself of why she chose the path she did and why she made the final decisions that she had. Once she was back to normal she went back over the plan in her head one more time. She knew that there was a main breaker box that the guys used as a power source since it was used to power some of the old subway lines and was still in good condition now. This box was located closer to the entry way near the living room. She would shut this down so that the entire lair would suddenly go dark and then she would sneak in depending on which exit she sensed a presence (which she knew would be Donnie) leave to either fix that box or to go use one of their tons of back-up generator boxes. She slipped on a Foot soldiers mask the covered every part of her head except for where her eyes were and she made sure her bag was secured nice and tight so that it wasn't lose and would make noise while she ran. 

She then crawled down the ladder on the side of the apartment building and walked over towards the manhole cover. She carefully and cautiously made her way into the sewers, keeping her devices used to sense and deactivate small cameras nearby as she came closer and closer to her final destination. 

***Minutes later in the lair*  
Theme:  
Kodaline-Nothing More  
**

Now that it had been just under two weeks since the incident, the older three brothers were slowly starting to get back into their regular routines that they each followed, that and after spending days staring at the same walls of their rooms they finally wanted to leave their rooms and do something else that would get their minds off of all the chaos that had gone down in the dojo and that was still replaying over and over in their minds from that insane night. 

Mikey was the only one who wasn't able to get back to how things used to be which he made evident since he was spending the night at Sam's place yet again. The rest of the brothers however were starting to pick up their old habits. Leo was out patrolling on his own for the time being, Raph was in the dojo getting back to his daily workout routines, and Donnie was sitting at the kitchen table as he finished a slice of pizza and played some games on a 3DS that he had found trashed and broken in a dumpster that now looked brand new thanks to his technical skills. The lair was still pretty quiet, but it was nowhere near as silent as it had been days previous. At least now there was a little bit of noise from the various activities and it wasn't so quiet that you could hear a pin drop from the other side of the room. As he brothers continued on peacefully with their activities, all the lights suddenly went off.

"DONNIE!" Raph called from the dojo.  
"It wasn't me I promise!" he called back. "It must be a major city power outage for all the lights to go off like this, I'll fix it don't worry!" 

Donnie stood up and pulled out a flashlight from one of the many pouches that were hooked onto his shorts along his waist. He walked down the small walkway and over the waterway down below and then exited the lair through the doorway that was by Leo's room past the kitchen. He made a few different turns until he finally reached the most powerful back-up generator box that would provide the same amount of power to the lair as the original source. He texted Raph to make sure the light's came back up, and after a couple of minutes he got a reply saying that everything was working. He nodded his head and patted himself on the back to show his pride in being the technical nerd of his brothers and he was proud of his skills. As he walked back into the lair he grabbed his 3DS and headed over to where his millions of computer monitors were set up right outside his lab. He sat down and started looking up recent and live news websites and podcasts. He was curious as to what would cause such a large and random power outage like that. They hadn't seen the lair that dark in a long time. They boys had been young children the last time the lair went dark and that was because of a really bad weather issue that caused a really bad power outage all throughout the city during the summer. Donnie wondered if this could be the same reason for this power outage, or if it could be something much worse like a cyber-attack from another country. Donnie searched…and searched…and continued to search for a few more minutes, but he couldn't find a single lead as to what had caused the power outage. He then began to wonder if something had happened to the main breaker box. Maybe it had just overheated? Sometimes these things happened and he just needed to go fix some old worn out wires. His suspicions were soon confirmed when he heard his father calling his name from behind him.  
"Donatello? Donatello?" Splinter called out.  
"What's up dad?" Donnie asked as he spun his chair around.  
"I'm not sure if it's supposed to be that way, but one of our electrical boxes had the door open and seemed like someone had shut it down."  
"Wait, it looked like it was turned off? As in the switch was down?" Donnie asked.  
"Yes! Exactly like that my son" Splinter said with quick nods.  
Donnie held up a finger to his father to signal that he needed a moment as he stood up and walked into his lab. He quickly walked over to the drawer where he had left the flash drive that Sam had given him only to find that it was no longer laying in the spot where he had last left it.  
"God dammit" he whispered to himself as he slammed the drawer shut. 

"Ugh, Don!?" Raph called from the other room.  
And that fast Donnie was rushing out of his lab as he quickly began shouting orders at Raphael. 

***Same setting, Raph POV*  
** **Theme:  
Kodaline-Nothing More  
**

Raph had been continuing his workout routine when suddenly the power went out. Raph groaned as he assumed that Donnie had blown another fuse with one of his crazy inventions.  
"DONNIE!" Raph called from the dojo.  
"It wasn't me I promise!" he called back. "It must be a major city power outage for all the lights to go off like this, I'll fix it don't worry!"  
Raph heard his brother push his chair in at the kitchen and heard the sound from his footsteps gradually get softer and softer as he made his way throughout the sewers to another electrical box.  
Raph started back up with his training. Nothing could be heard except for the sounds of his sais swiftly cutting through the air. He had been throwing punches at his bags for so long that he begun to miss the feeling of slashing with his sais, so this individual training session felt incredible to him right now. He was so distracted by the joy that this workout brought him that he didn't hear the ever so silent sounds of equipment being moved nearby in the storage space in the bottom right circular opening to the dojo.  
Another 5 minutes or so passed by before the lights finally came back on. Raph chuckled to himself as he thought about how his nerdy brother knew where everything was down here in the sewers. If someone told Raph to go get the back-up box working then he would get lost just trying to find it, yet Donnie could find it AND get it back up and running within a matter of minutes.  
Raph heard his phone go off and saw a text message from his brother asking if everything was up and running again. The older turtle rolled his eyes as he replied to the text message. _"Like you really need to ask dude. If you're the one fixing it then obviously its working" _he thought to himself as he continued practicing.  
Raph sensed his brother walk back into the lair and head over towards his nerd station. He was beginning to feel a bit hungry himself, so he decided that now was a good time to take a break and get something to eat. He exited the dojo and made a left to head over to the fridge. He grabbed a water bottle and took a drink. It felt nice to actually get some exercise for the enjoyment of it and not solely because of anger. Intense and non-stop workouts were pretty much Raph's way of life, but he knew that when he worked out solely from rage and anger that it eventually took a toll on his body, so this much more relaxed practice session made him feel much better and had actually helped calm him down a lot. Just as he was about to grab some pizza to heat up in the microwave he felt something hit the side of the door. He looked down to see that he had forgotten to put his sais back and that they were hitting the door as they stuck out from their holsters. Raph grabbed a couple of slices and placed them on a plate in the microwave, and as the food was heating up he walked back over to the weapons wall and placed his weapons back in their spot. He started heading back over towards the kitchen counter to get his food, but that's when something caught his eye that made him stop and pause. 

As he heard his father enter the room and start talking to Donnie, Raph turned around to confirm something that he thought he had seen, or more so, something he thought he hadn't seen.  
The hot headed turtle tried to remain calm as he walked back over towards the weapons wall and looked down to where Sam's brother Chuck's sais usually sat. They were one of the smallest pairs so they usually sat along the bottom of the wall, but they were gone. Raph looked up and down the racks where all the various types of weapons were placed and then he looked all along the floor, but still he couldn't land his sights on where the small set of weapons were.  
"Ugh, Don?!" Raph called out to his brother.  
Raph turned and saw his younger brother run out from his lab with a stern and serious expression.  
"Raph we need to get to the surface now" Donnie said in a demanding tone.  
"There's no way, right?" Raph asked. He couldn't believe and he didn't want to believe that Sam had just snuck by them, that she was literally right in the same room as them mere minutes ago. He was still furious with the girl and didn't want to be friends with her, but he did want answers.  
Donnie clenched his hands together and Raph could see the thinner turtles muscles tighten up as he spoke. He could tell that Donnie wasn't exactly ready to face her either, but right now was a 'now or never' type moment whether they were ready to talk to the girl just yet or not.  
"There's a good chance that it is, and if not, then there's going to be trouble. So we need to move now! I'll take the exit by the living room and you take the exit by the kitchen. Run through the usual path and in five minutes go topside. She couldn't have gotten too far, so we should be able to catch up to her if we move fast" Donnie commanded.  
"My sons, what is going on?" Splinter asked, concern flooding through his tone.  
"I'm pretty sure Sam was here just a few minutes ago. She played us once again and slipped right by us, but she's not getting away this time" Donnie said in a low but deep and pained voice.  
Splinter closed his eyes and nodded. Sadness was written on his face as he agreed that the two boys should chase after the girl.  
"Hai Sensei!" the two turtles shouted before sprinting into the sewer tunnels. 

Splinter sighed and shook his head.  
"Oh Samantha, if only you could see what you've done to my sons. I don't think you have cruel intentions, but you're making my sons act in ways that I've never seen before. Please just communicate with them tonight, please…"  
Splinter had never sensed a bad aura from the girl, not even on her final night in the lair, yet all this chaos had occurred between her and his sons. It pained him to see his sons react to the situation the way they all had, but he understood they all needed to cope with the emotional blow they had taken, especially Michelangelo who had become so close to the girl. The two were inseparable whenever he saw the duo hanging out in the lair and he could tell by how Mikey was distracted during practices (as in way more distracted than usual) that he truly and deeply longed for any type of contact with Sam.  
That's when the old rat realized that his most vulnerable son was not in the room and didn't know that she was nearby. He quickly pulled out the shell cell that Donnie had made for him and, slowly with one finger since he was the equivalent of an old man, typed up and sent a message to his youngest son that explained what was currently happening with the chase after Sam.  
"I hope you get this message my son. This may be your last chance to talk to her, please take advantage of this moment."  
And with that, Splinter walked down to his small bedroom that was in the circular piece of the living room and laid down to rest, hoping that everything would finally be alright after tonight and that all this depressing craziness would end. 

***Back up at the surface/the manhole cover in the alleyway behind Sam's apartment building***

**Theme:  
Starset-Ricochet  
**

Sam swiftly yet still silently lifted the cover and exited the sewers. She put the cover back down and once again made sure everything in her bag was tight and secure. She let out a breath of relief now that she was safe from being caught. This was one of the first times that she had been able to complete her mission without her emotions getting the best of her, though they were really close to getting the best of her as she sensed Raph's presence in the dojo. The two were probably only a few feet apart and she was terrified that her shaking hands were going to give away her position, but Raph must have been distracted since he didn't hear her (thank god!) and never stopped his workout which was evident from the constant slicing sound of his sais cutting through the air. 

Sam started to walk back towards the city streets and was reaching for her board along her back. She thought she was in the clear, that is, until she heard a voice come from behind her.  
"So, is this proof that I should or shouldn't trust you?"  
Sam paused and closed her eyes tight as she recognized Leo's stern voice. She made sure not to show any emotion though. She didn't clench her fists, she didn't let out any loud breaths, and she made sure not to do anything that would display any emotion. She wanted it to seem like she was fine and that nothing was wrong. If she displayed any type of emotion then it would show how much she still cared for the guys, and at this point in time that was no longer an option. Her arm dropped back down to her side as she turned around to face Leo.  
"I don't understand what you're asking" she said with a blank face.  
"You just snuck into our home again, didn't you? I'm not sure if I should be happy that you took the time to come back and visit us, or if I should be upset from your reason for doing so" Leo said but this time without such a strict tone to his voice as usual. Deep down he knew that she was putting up a front with her 'I don't care' act and that she was hiding how she truly felt, so he tried his best to throw the act back at her.  
Sam shrugged. "I didn't do anything wrong. I just returned to take back what was already mine. You can assume whatever you want from that."  
"I guess it was too much for you to say hello?"  
"Last time I checked you guys didn't really want to talk." This time Sam accidentally added some sass to the way she spoke and she knew that the turtle in front of her had picked up on that.  
"It's hard to talk when there's a fist in your face."  
"It's hard to throw a punch when you're handcuffed to a chair."  
"We did what we thought needed to be done to keep us all safe, and after what you did to Raph, it seems we didn't tie you down enough."  
"I've broken free from tougher chains so tying me down wasn't really going to help you."  
"And what would have helped us?"  
"Not leaving your hostage with the hot head of the group, aka the reason your hostage was set off and went on a rampage."  
Leo paused. He knew this was true and he was thinking about how to convert his thoughts to words.  
"Trust me when I say we didn't want to leave Raph alone with you, but we knew that he wouldn't be able to talk reasonably when discussing how to handle the situation and we didn't want to take the risk of you hearing us and tricking us into anything when you opened your eyes."  
_"Damn, that actually makes sense" _Sam thought to herself. She tried to think of what to throw back at him since somehow they had gotten themselves into a verbal battle.  
"Why not break into two teams? You know hot head wouldn't hurt his baby brother. You could have left him in the room."  
_"Shit that's true. Why didn't we think of that idea that night?" _Leo thought.  
"I guess we trusted that you wouldn't hurt Raph, or any of us, in anyway. Guess we were wrong."  
"I guess I trusted and told the wrong people the information about my past, you know, since they threw it back in my face to the point where I went off like a bomb. Huh, guess I was wrong." 

The two hated what they were saying to each other and at this point they didn't really know what they were doing. It was like they were trying to pry information from the other as to what had happened that dreadful last night together while also sharing how the event had made them each feel, yet instead of explaining their thoughts and emotions in a calm and collected way they were doing so in a verbally aggressive way (even if there were both talking in a calm yet serious and solid tone). There were still so many bottled up emotions hiding away within both of them and because of this they weren't able to talk to each other like normal, hence why they were both being so nasty towards one another. This was what Leo feared. Even though he had been searching for Sam he still wasn't ready to actually talk to her just yet, and this was the result of how unprepared he was. 

"So being friends with Mikey was wrong? Do you regret that?" Leo asked. 

This was the part that Sam was most unprepared for. It was already difficult for her to face the brothers, but Mikey was her best friend which made facing him a million times worse. As much as she cared for all the boys it was always known that she and the youngest turtle had a stronger bond than any of the others did. He was the reason she was even allowed to enter the lair on a daily basis since he was the one who had never given up on her, and seeing him in her room made it even clearer how much he cared about her as well. But she couldn't think of that anymore. She couldn't let any of them come anywhere near her anymore because that would bring them closer to the dangers of the Foot clan and she couldn't let that happen. Sam knew what she had to do and as much as it pained her, she knew that she had to do everything she could to push the guys away from her. She would do whatever it took to keep them safe, even if it meant them all truly wanting nothing to do with her. The more they hated her than the more they would want to stay away from her. If they stopped waiting for her and stopped searching for her then they would always be safe, and she wanted that more than anything, even with the risk that she would personally lose them forever. 

She squinted her eyes together. "Who said we were friends?" _"Lies."  
_"Oh, so now you're going to pretend that you two weren't attached at the hip?"  
"I laughed at his corny jokes and I said what he wanted to hear. If that's friendship then yeah we were best friends." _"Please believe my lies."  
_"Really? So you didn't feel anything when you saw him in your room earlier?"  
"*shrug* He looked comfortable, so I guess I felt relaxed after seeing that." _"Ahhh screw you Leo! Just listen to my lies and let me leave."_  
"Alright Sam, moment of truth. How long have you been a member of the Foot clan?"  
"4 years."  
"Why did you join?"  
"Shredder recruited me for my deceptive skills. One of my masters told him about me and he picked me up. I found the whole situation fun and I learned what I was taught quite quickly."  
"Is that why you were wearing a leader's armband? Because you learned and honed your skills so quickly?"  
"You got it."  
"Okay, so why did you tell us about your past?"  
"I needed to get close to you guys, so I edited the facts and told you what I needed to about my past."  
"What parts were edited?" Leo asked as he crossed his arms across his chest.  
"All my family did die at one time in life, but they weren't killed by the Foot. I came up with all of those details by myself."  
"Why did you need to get close to us?"  
"Because Shredder needed someone to track down his enemies, aka you guys."  
"Alright, but why haven't the Foot attacked us even though they know our location?"  
"Because Shredder got the information that he needed and now he's focusing on a new project."  
"And what would that be?"  
"To head back to Tokyo where the main branch is." 

Leo could tell that something was up. Why would Shredder have one of his best ninjas get close to him and his brothers just so that he could take whatever information was gathered (whatever the heck that information even was) and take both it and the entire Foot clan itself back to Tokyo? Something wasn't adding up and he was getting fed up with all the lies. 

"Alright Sam cut the shit. I don't believe a damn thing you've said so far."  
"What's new?" she said sarcastically.  
"This is your last chance. Tell me the truth, the full and complete truth. No more lies and no more secrets. Spill everything now." Leo said, his strict and demanding voice returning back to normal which signaled that he was done playing games.  
"I already told you everything I know. Shredder got what he wanted so you can just go home and relax, there's nothing for you to worry about. Oh and here's a bonus" she said as she slightly raised her voice, "I've already taken back what belongs to me, so there's no more reasons for me to return to your home. Now you'll never have to see me again." 

"_Is that her motive? To push us away? What the hell Sam?!" _  
Leo was clenching his fists now. He was furious with how the girl was talking to him and he was enraged with the fact that after everything they had been through, instead of trying to rekindle what their families had before that dreadful night, she was now making the situation even worse and pushing him even further away. 

"So that's it? Your family, OUR family, you're just going to walk away from all of that? Does our family mean that little to you? What about your brother's, what about Mikey?! Doesn't any of that matter? Instead of talking to us and trusting us you're just going to leave and walk away like you never met us? Are we all supposed to continue living life like the other one never existed?" 

"_I'm so, so sorry…" _were the only thoughts in Sam's head before the words came out of her mouth. She looked Leo straight in the eye and said "you were never my brother's. None of you were, and we were never family. I used you, don't you get it? We were never even friends! I did what I needed in order to please my master and that's it, that's the end of the story. I don't know what else you want from-" she suddenly stopped speaking as her eyes went wide and her gaze moved down to the ground.  
Just then Sam felt a presence. He wasn't here yet, but she knew he would be here soon. Her hands began to shake and she rapidly shook her head. She had succeeded in keeping her calm and serous composure, but as soon as she sensed him she felt herself break down into a million weak little pieces.  
"No…not like this…" Sam said. She looked back up at Leo. He was taken aback by the fear that was etched onto her face since she had been so serious just seconds ago, yet now she looked like she had just seen a ghost.  
"I need to go" Sam said as she turned around and began sprinting out of the alley way and down the city streets. 

Leo was so shocked by her change in emotion that he hadn't realized what was going on until he heard a noise from above. He blinked a few times and finally realized that Sam was no longer standing in front of him, and as he looked up he saw his brother quickly jumping and sliding down rails along the side of the building to his right. As Leo watched his brother make his way down to the ground he then felt a gush of wind as Donnie and Raph rushed past him and up onto the building on his left. They reached the top and began running along rooftops after the girl who was trying to escape.  
"Come on Leo! We need to catch her!" Mikey urged as he now had made his way to the ground and was now motioning for his brother to follow him. "It's late enough that we can try to follow her on the ground!"  
"Mikey wait" Leo said, "Something isn't right."  
"Yeah she's getting away because we're standing around talking!"  
"Mikey wait! We need to talk about this!"  
"And it can't wait until after we get Sam back?!"  
"No!"  
"Why not?!"  
"Because I'm not ready to get Sam back and her running away is a perfect example of that!" 

Mikey stood still and faced his brother. Now that he was actually paying attention to Leo and not solely focused on catching up to Sam, he could see that his brother was struggling to stay calm and composed. Something was hurting Leo and Mikey knew that he needed to be here and help his oldest brother who was reaching out to him. Luckily their other two brothers were chasing after the girl at the moment which helped put Mikey at ease and this aided him in giving his full and undivided attention to Leo.  
"Alright. Explain what that means" the younger brother said.  
"Remember how we talked about each of us four holding a different mindset in how we felt about everything that had happened?"  
"Yeah I remember."  
"Well, I thought that I was catching up to you in wanting to look for Sam and figure out what was going on…but then when I finally caught her tonight, I totally crumbled. For the longest time we were just verbally attacking each other and that's nowhere near what I wanted to happen when I finally got to talk to her again."  
"What were you expecting to happen?" Mikey asked calmly.  
"I don't know. I knew it wouldn't be anywhere close to a peaceful conversation, but I guess I hoped that there would be an actual discussion at least. Just, I need you to understand that that's one of the reasons why it's so hard for us to reach the same mindset as you, because I know for a fact that what just happened with me and her would have been ten times worse if she had met Donnie instead of me, and it would have been a million times worse if it had been her and Raph talking."  
Mikey nodded his head. He respected that his brother at least tried to look for the girl and get some answers that could help everyone understand just what was going on and maybe even to find a solution to all this craziness, but Leo's words also made sense to him. He could sense how frustrated his brother was from the conversation he had just had with Sam and he knew the assumptions made about what would have happened if Sam had interacted with one of the other two brothers was spot on. This conversation had definitely helped open his eyes to how his brothers were feeling and he was grateful that Leo had helped him get to that point.  
"Thanks for at least attempting to get some answers, and thanks for this. I'm sorry you guys have been struggling and that I haven't exactly been as supportive as I should be" Mikey said as he gaze drifted off to the side as he felt some guilt wash over him.  
"It's not your fault," Leo cut in, "we all know that you were the closest to her. Each of us is just processing all of this in our own ways."  
Mikey paused before he spoke. "No offense, but couldn't this have waited until later?"  
"No, because I have more to tell you" Leo said as he walked over and stood closer to his brother. "Back then when I was talking to Sam, I told her to spill the truth about everything and that this was her final chance to do so. I hoped she would cooperate, but I could tell that she was lying straight through her teeth."  
Mikey's eyes widened with curiosity. "What did you say to each other?"  
"I asked her about her reasons for getting close to us and she said that she lied about her past so that she could get close to us and gather the information that she needed."  
Mikey's expression changed from curious to confused. "What information would she be trying to gather besides where we're living?"  
"That's the thing, she wouldn't say. And then when I asked about the Foot not attacking us even though they know our location, she said that 'Shredder got the information that he needed and now he's focusing on a new project that involved him moving all of his clan back to the main Tokyo branch in Japan."  
Mikey was silent and Leo could tell that the wheels in his younger brother's head were turning as he tried to process everything that he was just told. Finally, the light bulb went off.  
"She's making excuses to try and keep us away from her" he said with wide eyes.  
"Exactly!" Leo said with a nod.  
"But…but why would she try to push us away? On that final night she kept trying to get us to listen to her so she could tell us 'the truth' and so she could tell us her side of the story. If she wanted us to listen to her so badly that night then why is she purposefully trying to push us away now?" he asked, sadness in his eyes.  
"That's what I'm worried about. Everything she said tonight, those were the true lies. Everything she said made no sense, and then when she sensed you getting closer, she totally freaked out which proves that she still cares about us, especially you. Knowing this and then knowing that she resorted to those crappy lies proves that something's wrong and that Sam is in some type of danger." Leo put his hand on his younger brother's shoulder. "But don't worry, we're going to get to the bottom of this. We're going to find out what's going on, I promise."  
Mikey gave his brother a small smile, but it soon faded away as he realized that they could have been chasing Sam now and getting all the answers that they needed, yet here they were talking about it instead of doing something about it.  
"Again, no offense Leo, but why aren't we chasing after Sam NOW and getting the answers that we want?"  
Leo was serious again as well. "You know how you and I are able to discuss this? How we can talk about the fact that something is wrong with Sam and that we're both interested in finding out what's going on? It all goes back to what I said a little while ago. Raph and Donnie aren't ready to have these conversations and if they overheard us holding a conversation like this then that would create even more chaos within our home."  
Mikey tilted his head to the side. "But, couldn't we just 'go on patrol,'" he said as he used his finger to make the quote signs, "and talk about Sam then?"  
"If those two saw us going on patrol together every night together or even just in general then they would catch on that we were up to something. Have you forgotten that we're talking about the nosy Raphael and the genius Donatello?" Leo asked, a bit of playful teasing in his voice to help ease the tension a bit.  
Mikey nodded and let out a small chuckle. "Alright, I understand. So this was the only time that we could have had this conversation without those two knowing?" Mikey asked.  
"Yes exactly…" Leo trailed off as he made a weird face while staring at his brother.  
Mikey took a step back. "You okay bro?" he asked nervously.  
"Heh yeah, sorry. I just noticed something."  
"What's that?"  
"I don't know if it's because of Sam, or if it's because of your emotions getting involved, but one of those two factors gets the wheels in your head to start turning and you actually sound pretty intelligent. I'm not used to only telling you things one time because you actually understand it the first time around."  
Mikey squinted his eyes. "Wheels? I thought Donnie said we have cells and nerves and stuff inside our brains."  
Leo rolled his eyes as he turned and began to walk away. "And that fast you're back to normal. Come on, let's head home for the night before the sun starts to rise."  
Mikey followed behind his older brother and the two returned home, waiting for their brothers to return home as well. 

***Moments before, Raph and Donnie POV*  
**

"GOD DAMNIT!" Raph shouted as he punched the rooftop below his feet.  
They both had just seen her and they felt like they were catching up to her, but she made one turn around a corner and that fast she was already all the way at the other end of the street. Raph continued to voice his frustration.  
"First her immense amount of strength, and now she has immense speed? When did she get this good? She was never this skilled around us, right?!" he shouted as he turned back around to face Donnie who was currently dragging his palms down his face in annoyance.  
"Raph what are we doing?" he groaned under his hands.  
"What do you mean? We're trying to get some damn answers!" he exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air as he did so.  
"But, it's just for answers, right?" Donnie asked.  
"Of course! You didn't come out here just to be friends with her again did you? Because if that's the case then I need to knock some sense into you" he growled.  
Donnie shook his head. "Trust me I don't want to just welcome Sam back into the family with open arms like that, and if we ever do trust her again then it will be a long while before I can look at her and treat her the same way. These games she's playing are changing everything I've ever thought of her and things will never be the same no matter what comes next."  
"So why are you questioning why we're out here then?" Raph asked as he glared over at his brother.  
"Just making sure that's why we're out here is all" Donnie said, beginning to mumble as he spoke.  
"Sounds like you're trying to make sure that's why you're out here" Raph said as he started walking over towards Donnie.  
"I mean…*sigh* maybe I am. This whole situation is just confusing as hell" Donnie groaned as he tilted his head back in frustration.  
Raph stood closer to Donnie but paused before saying anything else. Hell wasn't exactly the worst of the many cuss words that one could say, but for Donnie to say that was a huge deal since he never cussed. He wouldn't complain if someone else cursed here and there, but it was definitely a rare occasion when Donatello was the one using them. Knowing this, Raph could tell that his younger brother was very upset and perplexed from everything that had happened.  
"What's going on?" Raph asked cautiously.  
Donnie looked back at his brother and could sense that he was actually willing to listen and help rather than just yell at what he didn't agree with.  
"It's just…more than anything I'm pissed that I allowed someone to trick me. I let some play their games and create a puzzle that I couldn't and still can't solve with the information I already have. That means that in order to understand what the heck is going on I'd have to gather new info, but that includes moments like this where we might have to chase down Sam and just…I don't want to do that in a sense because then it seems like we care about her and are showing emotions towards her and the situation at hand. But I don't want to do that! I mean holy crap she could have killed you!" he said, now using his hands as he talked, "She almost took you from us in a way where we can't just run after and save you and then bring you back. I don't want to care about her in any way and I don't, but…but…"  
"There's times where you feel like you have to force yourself to stay away?" Raph cut in.  
Donnie was hesitant since he wasn't sure which direction Raph was heading in with this question. The older turtle sensed this and continued on with the conversation.  
"Look Don I feel the same way, and I know you're like me in the sense that you feel like you were played and toyed with and that you want to resent her for that. Even though we feel this way there are still times where we think back to moments where she was our friend, and honestly I hated myself for allowing myself to think back to those times, but Sensei and April told me something that helped me look past that a little bit."  
Donnie was a bit shocked at how sentimental his usually hot headed brother was acting right now and he was curious as to what he was told that helped him get this way.  
"What was is they said?" Donnie asked.  
"They told me that besides for April, Sam was the only other friend we have ever had and that because of that bond that we had created it's hard to just push that away like it never happened. They said that it would be difficult for anyone to get really close and open up to someone and then suddenly just try to eliminate them from your life like they never even existed."  
"Ahhh, so it's a psychological thing that we can't fully control then."  
"Heh, you already knew that part, didn't you?"  
The two brothers were now slightly smiling at each other as they began to ease the tension some.  
"Yeah I knew about that part and I understand how all that works, I guess it's more so that I wish that I could override that, you know? Like obviously you can't just wipe someone from your memory, but I want to and wish I could. I don't want to see Sam the same way as before the incident, yet all our memories with her makes it difficult to stop feeling concerned about what is and isn't true and if she's okay or not."  
Raph walked over and threw his arm around his brother's shoulder.  
"Just know that you're not alone. I'm annoyed and confused by this situation and the resulting emotions and thoughts as well."  
"Thanks Raph" Donnie said sincerely, "and regardless of how we feel for her, we're going to get those answers, both for ours and for Mikey's sake. I can't even imagine how he's feeling right now."  
Raph shook his head. "Sadly he has to learn through these messed up experiences that you can't just trust people so easily, but I'll admit that I hate seeing him so broken. But hey, that just means that the next time the Foot attack, we're going to get some answers out of them about what the hell has been going on and we'll learn the real truth about Sam and her actions and motives" he said as he put his knuckle up for a fist bump.  
Donnie nodded and completed the fist bump as he said "agreed."  
And now that the two were much calmer, they decided to end their chase and head back home before the sun would begin to rise. 

***Moments later, Sam's POV*  
Theme:  
Plumb-I Want You Here  
Skillet-Everything Goes Black  
Skillet-Believe  
**

Sam laid down on her back on the rooftop of the building she was now on. As soon as Sam sensed Raphael and Donatello running along the rooftops above her she had quickly pulled a small needle out from her back pack and injected a small dose of a stronger mutagen into her arm that had helped her run at a speed that she had never traveled before. She was successful in getting away from the turtles, but now she felt so weak that she had that 'sitting on pins and needles' feeling, like when you sit in a crisscross position for too long and your legs 'fall asleep,' except now she felt this all throughout the lower half of her body.  
She just couldn't do it. As soon as she sensed Mikey she knew she had to get out of there. If he had started talking to her then without realizing it her emotions would get the best of her and she'd unintentionally start answering all his questions truthfully, and that would mean him knowing about why she joined the Foot clan and him wanting to try and help her, and she couldn't allow that to happen.  
At the same time, everything she had just experienced within that half hour was just as heartbreaking as the incident that had happened 12 days ago. She had no idea how she had spoken to Leo for as long as she had, and she hated the way their conversation went down. She didn't want to have to say what she had, but it was the only way to keep them away from the dangers that now came with knowing her. She knew that speaking to Raph or Donnie would have been impossible since their last conversation made the boys act in ways that Sam had never seen before and she wasn't ready or prepared to confront those expressions and voices from those two yet, or ever really. 

And then there was Mikey. Sam couldn't get over what she saw in her bedroom that night. She expected Mikey to regret ever trusting her in the past and that he would loathe any future interaction they might have, yet he was waiting for her in her bedroom in hopes that they would get to talk again, and knowing him, he was waiting for the moment that he would be able to swoop in and take care of and protect her. She didn't deserve his friendship and in a way she wanted him to hate her and to forget about her for his own safety. Tears filled Sam's eyes as she paced back and forth, grabbing the sides of her head as she thought of all the ways that she had hurt Michelangelo and his family and she was filled with anger. 

She then thought about how tonight was so similar to the way that she had first ever met the turtles. The reason she met the turtles was because she snuck into their home, stole from them, hid and snuck around behind their backs, and then did everything she could to escape. Though there were so many similarities in the situations, there were multiple reasons why tonight was a million times worse than when she first got on the turtles bad side. In the past she had wandered into a new territory whereas tonight she had purposefully broken into the boy's home. In the past she had taken something from them and then hid so that she could learn more about them whereas tonight she stole and hid from them so that she could get further away and never see them again. And the worst difference of all was that in the past there was at least one brother who came after her and made everything better. One of the four brothers took the time to meet back up with her and sort everything out to the point that everyone was on good terms with each other, but that wasn't and never would ever happen again.

Michelangelo wasn't coming back and Sam would make sure of it, no matter how much it killed her on the inside. She would have loved for him to come after her and take care of her like he always did and right now she would have loved for him to be the one to dry her crying eyes, and this made her even more upset.  
"No! He can't come back! You don't need him! You can't need him!" she shouted as she slammed her palm against the wall of the entry way on top of the building.

She was disappointed in herself for wanting him to come after her. She knew that Mikey coming after her would lead to his demise and she didn't want that, but god life was so much more difficult without him now. Sam had become so spoiled with the attention that her friend had given her and now she was broken without him. It was painful having to live without the one thing that she wanted and needed and right now it was killing her more than ever before. Her breathing grew heavier and heavier to the point where she kept coughing and choking on her sobs. The last time she acted like this was days ago when the incident occurred, and the last time before that was when her siblings had passed away. 

She couldn't handle feeling this way and she didn't know how many more times she could feel this type of pain. So many thoughts started flooding through her mind. She thought of how unfair this whole situation was. The plan was to help in the demise of the main New York branch of the Foot clan and it was supposed to work out where the turtles never even knew about it and she felt anger in the fact that every part of the plan had fallen through and turned sour. She was irritated that there was no way to know what would happen whether she had or hadn't told the turtles about the plan and that she wasn't able to make the best decision of what to do because she didn't know how either situation would play out. She was outraged with how the guys reacted and how they treated her and now she was furious that after they had pushed her away in the way they ALL had, they were now all trying to hunt her down for whatever their personal reasons were. She was infuriated that if she did tell the guys the truth then it could get them killed and her blood boiled more and more knowing that she had to face all this by herself. She couldn't go to the guys and more specifically she couldn't go to her best friend, the person she longed for most, and explain all this craziness and finally lift this heavy weight off her chest. 

Sam was crying her eyes out at this point as she rapidly paced back and forth. By this time she had become quite violent and had been punching the walls as she thought of how unfair everything was and how miserable she was that there was nothing she could do to fix what she had destroyed. She was finally happy and she was the only one to blame for throwing away her spot in the family that she had just joined. That's when she realized that she was standing at the top of a huge building in the middle of New York City. She quickly walked over towards the edge and just stood there, looking down at how far away the ground was below. If she jumped then she wouldn't be alone anymore. She would never feel this pain anymore and she would never be able to hurt anybody else ever again. There would be no more suffering, no more lies and hiding behind peoples backs, no more chances of her endangering anybody else's life, none of that would ever happen again if she just ended everything now. She stood there…and stood there…and after what felt like forever Sam moved, but she threw herself backwards so that she collapsed into a curled up ball on the rooftop. 

"AHHH DAMMIT!" Sam screamed. She couldn't do it. She didn't want to die yet and there was so much that she still wanted to live to see. She wanted to see Jay grow old with his future family, she wanted to see Shredder fall and for her to live a life where she wasn't always looking over her shoulder to make sure that he wasn't watching her every move, she wanted to learn more about those that she had grown closer to in the clan, she wanted to travel and see South Korea where so many stories from her families past had taken place, and even though she knew it would never happen, she wanted to at least live on and hope that one day her and Mikey could be friends again. 

Sam continued to think about these happier and calmer thoughts until she was finally able to breathe normally and see clearly again. She then stood up and made sure she had regained all function of her body again. Even though she had just been pacing around and throwing punches, she hadn't felt a single thing and hadn't really controlled any of her movements until now. She made sure she was okay and even practiced saying some basic phrases so that if she was questioned at headquarters she wouldn't crack and lose control of herself again. She took one final breath and took off running along the rooftops, making sure to stay focused and look out for anyone that might be following her along the way.

**(This was written when I originally posted this chapter on a different website for the first time)**

**RIP Chester Bennington. I was going to see you live in concert in just a few weeks at the beginning of August and this was going to be my first concert. I was honored to know that your voice would be one of the first I'd ever hear live and I literally wouldn't believe my boyfriend this afternoon when he told me what had happened. I don't know about everyone else and their beliefs, but I do hope and believe that there's a heaven of some type, and I hope you're resting peacefully there. You don't realize that for people like me you're part of my daily to weekly routine. You're constantly on my phone because I'm constantly listening to you sing, and there are thousands of us out there where you may have no idea we exist, but we know you and you are a part of our daily lives and you will continue to be a part of it as well. You are a legend that I sadly missed the chance to see, but you will never be forgotten.  
**

**I wanted to write this since I had already completed this chapter and just needed to review it when the news of his death came out. I don't want anyone thinking that I wrote parts of this chapter because of this news. I've had the set up for this chapter planned for a long time now, but I also wanted to write this memorial here because I've been a fan of Chester and LP's music for a long time now and because he and all of Linkin Park have been one of my most favorite music groups for as long as I can remember. Their emotional music, both newer and older songs, have helped fuel my creativity throughout my time working on this story (which can be seen since some of their songs were listed as 'themes' for many of my past chapters) and even way before then their music was always unique and motivational and inspirational to me. Rest peacefully Chester, you mean a lot more to a whole lot of people than you will ever know. **


	24. Chapter 24

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. **

Chapter #24

***Friday August 31****st****, late at night on a random rooftop within New York City***

Mikey was crouching down and hiding behind the raised ledge along the side of the building he was standing on and watched the two men separate from the rest of their group down below. For the past week Mikey had been white lying to his brothers. Every night he had told them that he was going up to the surface to wait for Sam, which was true, but he knew they assumed that he was heading to Sam's room each time he went topside and that's where the lying came in. He was still waiting and looking for Sam but he was now doing so in a new way. Each night he would run along the rooftops and look for Purple Dragons members that he could use to get the information that he was looking for. The Purple Dragons were currently working under Shredder and his clan, but they were nowhere near as strong and as skilled as the Foot clan itself, so whenever they spotted something they thought was too tough for them then they would immediately contact the clan and help would be sent to complete their task. Mikey would have just aimed for the Foot clan right off the bat, but it was like they had completely vanished ever since the incident with Sam. The Purple Dragons however were still on the move throughout the city. Their work hadn't involved any violence, but they were still selling and picking up drugs, weapons, information, etc. all throughout the city and tonight Mikey had found two Dragons members walking alone. 

He secretly trailed them from his position on the rooftop and watched their every move. He followed them for about 20 minutes before the two men finally stopped in front of a dimly lit alley way where the two pulled out a lighter and started smoking some cigarettes. Mikey waited another 10 minutes in case the two were meeting someone in this position, but the two just continued to talk and smoke by themselves. Mikey thought this was to perfect and that his plan to get Sam back might actually work. He got his nunchuks ready and he leaped down where the alley was so dark that you couldn't even see your hand if it was in front of your face. The two men froze, not sure what to do or how to react. They soon began to reach for the hand guns they had on them but before they could even shoot, the hand guns had been sliced up by some shuriken starts that had been thrown at them.  
"What the hell?" one of the men questioned as he held the gun close to his face so he could inspect the damage it had taken. As soon as the man looked back up, a huge figure had come rushing at him and slammed him up against the wall to their side. The impact was rough and the man came crashing to the ground, unconscious from the blow his head had taken against the wall.  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" the second man said as he put his hands up in defense and slowly started backing away.  
Mikey glared at the man as he reached out and clutched the man's shirt in his hand and pulled him in close.  
"Don't play defensive with me. You have a way of getting information that I want, and that means you're going to do exactly what I say" Mikey snarled.  
"Oh yeah?" the man asked with an evil grin. "What are you going to do? You guys don't kill people."  
Without saying a word Mikey flipped the man onto his stomach. He placed one foot on the man's back as he grabbed his arms and pulled backwards. The man began to shriek in pain, but those were soon muffled by dirt as Mikey placed his other foot on the man's head so that he was now completely standing on the body beneath him.  
"You're right," the turtle said in a low and menacing tone, "I won't kill you. But when I'm done, you'll wish I would have."  
He then took his feet off the man, but then leaned forward and pulled the man up by the hair on the back of his head. Mikey punched the man in the back and then spun him around. He kneeled down on one leg and shoved the man onto his knee, and right after he slammed his elbow into the victim's stomach.  
The man coughed and coughed as he tried to catch his breath. "Okay, okay, what do you want from me?"  
"I know you are in contact with the Foot Clan. Call one of the leader's and tell them and JUST THEM to get their ass over here. If you expose the true reason why they're being called," Mikey said as he pulled a kunai knife from his pocket and held it so that the tip of the blade was resting against the man's neck, "well, I think you know what will happen next."  
Mikey felt weird as he talked to the man like this. This was completely against what he and his brought stood for and believed in. The man was right when he said that the turtles didn't kill, and Mikey really didn't want to hurt this man too much either, but Sam's life was on the line and he would do whatever he had to in order to get her back and guarantee her safety. It would have been much more comforting if it was Raph or Leo in this current situation since they usually played the 'tough guy' card and had done this so many times that they knew how to handle this type of thing with ease and knew what was and wasn't going too far, but sadly having either one of them help wasn't an option. Even though it had been a month now, Raph was still with Donnie in not wanting anything to do with Sam, and Leo was supposedly helping to track down Sam's whereabouts, yet every night he came home with the exact same results of not knowing a damn thing. This meant that Mikey had to take matters into his own hands no matter how risky and intense things got for him.  
*Cough, cough* okay I'll call them" the man choked out.  
Mikey shot him an evil grin. "Great. Here, this might be more comfortable" Mikey said as he stood and dragged the man by his shirt and threw his body against the brick wall of the alley. The man groaned as he pulled out a cell phone and called for a leader. He didn't give a reason as to why he needed assistance but rather just said 'there's something I think you should see. Come alone please to keep the others safe.'  
_"I know there will obviously be more than one Foot soldier, but hopefully it's no more than 20 at max. I can successfully handle that many on my own without facing any serious injuries" _Mikey thought to himself.  
The two waited silently for the Foot soldiers to arrive at the given spot. Mikey stood still and never moved unless the man in his grasp tried moving around and tried fidgeting his way out of the turtles grip. In those cases Mikey shoved the man's body further and harder against the wall until the man stopped squirming around. After about 20 minutes or so was when Mikey sensed a presence nearby. Seconds later he then heard the sounds of feet leaping down from the rooftops and ladders from above and then start nearing closer and closer to where he was standing. He picked up and threw the Purple Dragon's member out of the alley and onto the main sidewalk of the city walkway.  
"If you're not gone by the end of the fight then I'll really kick your butt" Mikey snarled at the gang member.  
The man shivered with fear, nodded his head, and quickly ran away. 

Mikey then turned to face the soldiers walking towards him. He clenched his fists as he not only counted ten soldiers in the alley way, but then another ten walking across the street to where he was standing, and then another ten on the rooftop of the building to the left of the alley, and THEN ANOTHER TEN on the rooftop of the building to the right of the alley.  
_"Great, just perfect. There's always about 10 to 20 soldiers for the four of us to share, and the one day I'm alone is when 40 soldiers decide to show up. Oh well, let's get this show on the road."  
_Mikey pulled out his nunchuks and shot a nasty smile towards the soldiers walking towards him from the back of the alley.  
"Alright!" he exclaimed, "this is fine! Perfect even! There's never enough of you guys around so I'll make sure to take all my energy out on you guys tonight. But once I win, one of you better tell me ALL the information that I'm looking for, got it?!"  
As soon as those final words left his lips, many of the soldiers from the rooves started leaping down to where he was standing. Each of them tried landing kicks close to Mikey's head, but he dodged each one, and the kicks he couldn't dodge he whapped away with his nunchuks. He then jumped onto a dumpster nearby and then leaped over a large crowd of soldiers that had been surrounding him. He landed on the main sidewalk of the open walkway in the middle of the city and began to run. He knew this was extremely dangerous since he was now out in the open, but there was nothing else he could have done. Attempting to fight that many soldiers at once and in that confined space in the alley way was suicide, so sadly running away for the time being was the only option he had in surviving this fight.  
As he passed another alley way, he then heard shrieks of pain come from behind him as he also heard multiple *thud* sounds. He turned his head as he ran and then quickly came to a halt as he saw numerous soldiers lying on the ground, clasping their shoulders, hips, and calves where there were shuriken stars sticking out of them. This had taken out a good 10 or so soldiers. Mikey's curiosity as to how this had happened was answered instantly as Raph and Leo ran out from the alley and rushed towards the huge crowd of soldiers that were still on the ground. Mikey then heard a loud *bang* as a soldier from the roof above had come crashing down into an open dumpster down below on the ground. The young turtle looked up and saw Donatello fighting the few soldiers that were still on the roof tops as he knocked them off the top of the building each time he saw padded dumpsters down below.  
"MIKEY! SOME HELP PLEASE!" Leo shouted from the original nearby alley.  
Mikey turned back towards his oldest brothers and ran back to where they were currently fighting the rest of the huge crowd of soldiers.  
Four soldiers soon circled around him, but they were no match for the adrenaline filled Michelangelo. The young turtle hooked his nunchuks onto the sword that was swung near his head and with the momentum of the swing he pulled forward and threw the soldier onto the soldier that had been standing behind Mikey. The other two men in black ran up to Mikey's left and right sides and using kunai knives they tried slashing near Mikey's shoulders, but the turtles movements were quicker and he swung his nunchuks so that they would clash with the blades. When the time was right, Mikey then ducked and swung his leg out and tripped the soldier on his right so that he began to fall backwards, but before his body hit the ground, Mikey quickly pulled a chain sickle from his back straps and swung the blade so that it swung around the falling man's ankles. Mikey then used all his strength to then swiftly swing the man around so that he collided with the other soldier. 

By that time Donnie was done with the soldiers on the roof and was now running along his brother's side. Donnie looked as if he was about to say something, but instead he just stared and shook his head at his younger brother as he ran past him. Mikey could tell how upset his brother was with what he had done, but now wasn't the time to worry about all that, and Mikey got his head back in the game as he chased after Donnie and continued to fight alongside his brother's and take out the Foot soldiers. 

As the two were running back towards the larger group, Donnie saw a handful or soldiers preparing to throw some stars at the two brothers. He turned and use his elbow to break the window of the large truck beside them, opened the door, and pulled Mikey along with him as he climbed into the driver's seat and slammed the door shut. The two ducked down and sat back as far as they could as the shuriken stars sliced into the door and pierced their way through so that the tips of the stars could be seen from the inside of the vehicle. Donnie reached for a smoke bomb that he had made by mixing and pouring some chemicals into egg shells and threw it through the broken window. The smoke made a thick screen that lasted long enough for the two brothers to slip out through the passenger door and out of the truck. As the smoke cleared, the soldiers were shoved backwards as Mikey and Donnie each held a side of Mikey's chain sickle and charged towards the soldiers, wrapping them up in the chain. Mikey and Donnie then knocked each soldier out with their own individual weapons as the soldiers were stumbling around and trying to catch their footing.  
"This fight isn't worth the risk, everyone retreat!" one of the soldier's with a red armband shouted. Within seconds each of the remaining conscious soldiers picked up an injured comrade and fled the scene.  
Mikey began to run after the fleeing soldiers, hoping that they would lead him to where Sam was being held captive, but he was stopped by Leonardo who jumped in front of him.  
"Mikey. Turn. Around. NOW." Leo snarled through his grinding teeth.  
Mikey knew that he was in deep shit and that there was no way of escaping his brother's now, so with a clenched jaw and pursed lips, he turned around and headed for the alley way where the manhole cover that allowed his brothers to reach the surface was located. 

***Not much later, back at the lair*  
**

The entire walk back had been silent, awkwardly silent. No one had said a single word and for the first time in his life that's how Mikey liked it. He just wanted to reach his room without anyone talking to him so that he could start working on a new plan for that following night on how he would bring Sam back home. Of course his commonly hot headed brother couldn't hold back his temper any longer. He hated long periods of silence like this and now that they were home his fuse had run short.  
"So what the hell was that?" he called out towards his youngest brother who had been walking ahead of him.  
Mikey ignored his brother since he knew the argument that would follow would be brutal and ugly, but Raph wasn't going to allow the youngest turtle to walk away so easily.  
"Mikey! Get your ass over here before I chase you down and beat the answer out of you!" Raph shouted.  
Mikey turned around, but he stood in his spot in the entry way that lead to his and Raph's bedrooms as he spoke, not daring to move anywhere near Raphael.  
"You want to know what that was?" he asked calmly but sternly, "that was me trying to get my best friend back-"  
"You're still on that? Dude she's gone! She's not your friend in any way and she never was!" Raph bellowed as he walked over towards his brother.  
Mikey stood his ground, defending Sam while also literally standing still and not approaching Raph to make the situation worse.  
"That's a lie and you know it."  
Raph walked towards his brother as he talked. "No, what I know is that she lied to us in the worst way possible and then tried to kill me with her random increased amounts of strength which she also kept a secret from us!" Raph shouted as he now was standing so close to his brother that their foreheads were touching.  
This then set off Michelangelo's fuse. He thought back to when April had accidentally butt dialed him and Leo and what Raph had confessed in that phone call, and this became the sole thing on the young turtles mind as he shoved his older brother backwards and away from him.  
"That was only because you insulted her and her families past to her face! I mean Jesus Raph do you ever think before you speak?! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Mikey exclaimed.  
"What is wrong with me?! Maybe that someone I trusted was wearing a leader's armband for the Foot clan, or maybe that they had strength that none of us had ever seen before. Maybe some of us are sick and tired of being lied to every time things finally start to seem calm and collected!" he shouted as he then shoved his brother nastily.  
"Well maybe if you had let her explain herself then none of this would be happening! What if she had been captured and forced into the Foot clan?! And what if the one chance she had to call out for help was when we fucking pushed her away!?" he shouted as he shoved Raph back in the same way.  
"Language" Leo groaned. He meant this for both of the brothers, but Mikey had already lost control and this comment had now gained and redirected his angered attention.  
"Screw you Leo, you liar!" Mikey shouted as he pointed at his brother. "You said you were going to help me and you haven't done shit! I'm the only one trying to figure out what the heck is going on!"  
"Wait, what?" Donnie asked. "What is he talking about?" he asked forcefully.  
Leo tilted his head back in frustration. "I understand and respect that you and Raph don't want to look for her yet, and that's fine, but obviously something about this entire situation is twisted and I wanted to know why, so I told Mikey that I would help him search for Sam."  
"WOOOOOOW!" Raph roared. "Wow Leo! I knew you could be a soft leader at times but wow! I never thought you would ever stoop this low! First you let the criminal into our home where she played her games and now you're searching for her to bring her back! I just can't fathom how the heck your mind works!" Raph said as he was now getting closer and closer to Leo, who had now also gained Raph's angered attention.  
"And that's why I'm the leader Raph, because I think through situations before acting. Something's not right about all of this but you can't deny that.." Leo could tell by his brother's expression that his words had stung more now than ever before. "Sam said something like that to you, didn't she?" Leo asked cautiously. "You let her get to you, didn't you? You both picked at each other's deepest personal wounds and that's how everything exploded that night."  
Raph bit his lip, making sure that he didn't let his brother guilt trip him into thinking that everything that night was solely his fault.  
"Well it's hard not to pick when the same person keeps making the wounds larger" Raph scoffed under his breath.  
"What are you talking about?! You started it!" Mikey shouted.  
"Well none of this would have ever happened if you hadn't started hanging out with her in the first place" Raph said, spitting with hatred.  
"Bullshit! You enjoyed her coming down here and I won't believe anything otherwise!"  
"I enjoyed what I THOUGHT was our friend! She's proven that she's not our ANYTHING!"  
Everyone stopped talking when they heard a *slam* from further across the room and saw that Donnie had slammed his hand down on his desk.  
"How about the fact that letting her come back could lead us to this exact same situation again? None of us know what's real anymore. YOU don't even know what's real anymore!" Donnie said as he scowled at Mikey. "Doesn't that scare the shit out of any of you?! No matter how close any of us got to her none of us are able to figure out and understand what the heck is going on. That could mean a variety of things, some of the worst being that she played us like a fiddle OR that after everything we all went through together that she still didn't trust us enough to ask for help. Regardless I don't want to have to go through that again and I don't get how any of you could want to!"  
Mikey bit his lip before he spoke. He understood how his brother had felt because to certain extents he had felt the same way. It broke his heart to think that Sam had either played with his emotions and vulnerabilities or that she still didn't trust him after all this time, so in this sense he understood how Donnie felt. But without any proof that Sam had truly turned against them, he couldn't just give up on his best friend.  
"What happened to being innocent until proven guilty?" Mikey asked calmly.  
"Is punching me to death not evidence enough?" Raph asked nastily.  
Mikey glared at him as he spoke. "That whole night is a chaotic case file in itself and it includes you being a total jerk, so until the full story comes out, no it's not."  
"So me dying doesn't mean shit to you?!"  
"OF COURSE IT DOES YOU IDIOT!" Mikey howled. "I'd lose my mind if anything happened to any of you! Why do you think I told her to leave that night?! I couldn't believe what she did and on that night I hated her guts and wanted nothing to do with her!..." he paused before he spoke. "But what if we're wrong? What if everything is truly a messed up misunderstanding and Sam is still one of us? What if she's being tortured while we're just standing around arguing? What if she's dead and we're here doing nothing?!"  
"THEN SHE SHOULD HAVE COME TO US!" Raph and Donnie shouted at the same time, both a bit shocked at how their responses matched word for word.  
"Well why would she when we treat her like this?" Leo asked with a harsh tone to his voice.  
The middle two brothers were now glaring at him. "What?" they again said simultaneously.  
"What if she had come to us and we had treated her like this? Obviously she would have regretted talking to us about her decision, IF that's even the reason she's there. Until we find her we'll never know."  
"Why are you so infatuated with her?" Raph snarled.  
"I'm not infatuated with her, I want answers!" Leo said. Now it was his fuse that was beginning to burn out. "Do you honestly think we would choose her over our own brother? We were all on your side that night and did everything we could to protect you, and for me that includes knowing why the hell our supposed friend was about to bash your head in! You're always the one who wants to seek revenge against whoever has wronged you, yet when someone almost takes your life you suddenly get so scared that you run away and hide?! Where's the Raph who would want to fight the person who harmed him? And you!" Leo shouted as he now faced Donnie, "I get that you're scared and you're pissed that someone MAY HAVE played with your mind, but don't you want to avenge that? Don't you want to fight and win like when we first met her?! I get that all of this is terrifying in different ways and I'm nervous as well, but that's all the more reason that I want to know the truth about what the heck is going on!"

"I believe all your questions will be answered now" came a male voice off in the distance.  
The boys were all so busy arguing that they hadn't notice April and their father enter the room from the entrance near the kitchen, and they also hadn't realized that tangled up in their Sensei's tail was a body. He flipped the body up and slammed it down onto the ground in front of where the boys were all fighting with each other.  
All four turtles froze in shock. They could tell by the height and layout of this figure that it wasn't Sam, but what they did recognize was the uniform of a Foot soldier.  
Leo looked up with wide eyes. "Dad…"  
"I found him wondering a tunnel of the sewers that we rarely ever use, and I decided we would give him a warm welcome" Splinter said as he began wrapping his knuckles, preparing for a fight if the event was needed.  
"Ughhhhh, wait, please" the masked voice groaned.  
"Why should we?" Leo asked, nothing but anger in his voice.  
Without saying a word, the body moved and its hand removed the mask to reveal the face of a young Asian male.  
Mikey instantly recognized the lightly tanned face, the visible forehead with the black hair pushed back, the brown eyes, every detail of this face that he had seen in pictures multiple times.  
"Jay…" Mikey mumbled.  
His brothers quickly looked at him with wide eyes and then back down at the man on the floor.  
"So, I guess the whole family are Foot followers" Raph growled as he cracked his knuckles.  
"Please," Jay said as he moved into a bowing position on the floor, "please just listen to what I have to say. I can't see her suffer anymore, and if anything happens to either of us then I just need to know that you guys know the truth."  
The turtles paused, none of them knowing how exactly they should react to this. For an entire month they had been struggling with not knowing what was and wasn't true, and after having one of their craziest fights to date about this topic, out of nowhere a chance to have all their questions answered suddenly appears right in front of them.  
"I won't guarantee that we'll believe you, but we'll listen, so start talking" Mikey said sternly.  
The older three brothers nodded, agreeing that this seemed to be the best way to handle things for now. 

**Theme: Hurts-Illuminated  
**

Jay slowly moved his head so that he could look up at the turtles, and he began to stand up once he realized that they were actually going to give him a chance to speak.  
"*sigh* it all began in 2006. I was only 15 at the time so I was still learning about the dangers of this world. Everything that happened that night literally happened by chance. It could have happened to anyone, but for whatever reason life decided that I would be that evening's victim. I was heading back home from hanging out with some friends that day. I'll admit it was way later than any average teenager should be heading home, but I knew my parents would freak out if I wasn't in my bed the next morning whether I was safe or not, so I had to head home. I turned a corner on whatever street it was and coincidentally the Foot were robbing and beating up members of an innocent family. The grandparents were well known scientists and Shredder wanted them on his team, and since they didn't join willingly, he forced them into the group like he does with most people. They're sons, daughter in laws, and grandkids were living with them. The grandparents were beaten and dragged away, the parents were all killed, and the kids were knocked unconscious and kidnapped so that they would be forced into training for the Foot clan. I tried to hide, but I was caught. What I would eventually learn was that a current leader came over and threatened me. He said that if I went to the cops then I would regret it for the rest of my life. My parents however had taught me to always trust the police and that working with them would always be the safest thing to do, so once I knew the soldiers were long gone I sprinted to the nearest police station and told them everything I knew. Within that following week ALL the soldiers that were part of the attack were captured and taken to jail. The articles kept my name anonymous and I thought that meant that I was safe, but days later I would learn that I was wrong."  
"That's when they killed your parents. To prove a point and get revenge against you" April cut in.  
Jay silently nodded his head. "To this day I still don't know if I made the right choice. Those grandparents and their grandkids were all rescued and relocated to a different city because I made the decision to talk to the cops…but I lost my own parents as a result of that decision as well. I prayed and begged my parent's grave for forgiveness every night. The only thing that got me through was the adoption. I now had my blood and adopted family combined, and thanks to them I was able to keep living, though these thoughts have never left my mind."  
"Wait, how do you know for a fact that the Foot knew you were the one who went to the cops? How do you know it wasn't just a coincidence?" Donnie asked. He could sense that all of his brothers were growing as interested in this discussion as he was.  
"I'll admit, at first I really didn't know, but I had a strong hunch that I was the reason for my parent's deaths. It wasn't until two years later in 2008 when my suspicions were confirmed. I never knew it, but for those two years since that tragic night I was being watched by the Foot clan. They saw how weak I was at first, and then they saw how I was able to overcome what had happened thanks to my huge amounts of family support, and they decided I was the perfect pawn to take advantage of. They hunted me down one night and quote 'gave me the option' of joining them or not. They played mind games with me as they kindly told me that I didn't have to join them but that they highly advised for me to do so. I stood my ground and told them no and I hoped that that would be the end of my involvement with the Foot clan, but of course I made the wrong choice again. Days later, my adopted parents were attacked and murdered by the same soldiers who had contacted me that night. Those same soldiers snuck into my room in my own freaking house and asked me again to join them."  
By this point Jay was fighting to hold back tears.  
"How was I supposed to say no? Every decision I had made to fight back or to stay away resulted in the deaths of all four of my parents. I couldn't do it anymore. I gave up on fighting and running and decided to give in. What else could I have done? I was only 17 and I was alone. Nobody knew what was happening to me and I had to keep it that way, or else anyone that knew what was happening would be killed, I just know it. I thought joining the Foot and doing whatever they asked of me would save my siblings from experiencing the same fate, and once again…I was wrong" Jay said as he balled up his fists.  
"What happened?" Mikey asked gently.  
Jay turned back to face him, tears in his eyes as he spoke.  
"I wasn't meeting expectations. I was leaving trainings early so that I could get home and take care of my family. For two years I was the third oldest out of all my siblings and I was needed to help keep food on the table and a roof over our heads. Brian was in his senior year of high school and worked very minimal hours, and Nick began working odd jobs under the table as well, but it was up to me and my older sisters to work our butts off as the main bread winners and earn the amount of money we needed so that we could keep the parental rights to raising our younger siblings and not have everyone separated into different group homes. The only 'nice' parts of the Foot is that they help give you jobs and various career opportunities so that you can keep your cover and basically hide in plain sight. What they didn't expect was for me to need to work so many hours in order to help take care of my family. My boss was a Tokyo Foot clan member and he reported that I was leaving trainings early and missing out on mission calls so that I could work more to provide for my family. So what did Shredder do? He eliminated the problem…"  
Raph closed his eyes tight as he listened to this next part.  
"He…he…" Jay said, hysterically crying as he fought to make sure that he was still speaking words while sobbing, "He decided that I was spending too much time worrying about my family and that the problem needed to be taken care of. So he commanded some of his best soldiers to hunt down my family while we were hanging out at a nearby park. They shot Jamie and Nick to the point where they bled to death while they hid from the other soldiers, Haley was cut and also bled out due to no one treating her wounds, Amber was shot and died alone in the street, Brian was shot in the head and died within seconds, and then they slit Chuck's wrists, and there was nothing I could do about it! They all died and no matter what decisions I made and I was never able to protect them. I was knocked out and didn't even know about Brian and Chuck until the cops and paramedics showed up hours later. When they told me that everyone was dead, I was literally ready to just jump off the Brooklyn Bridge later that night. I was the reason that everyone in my family was killed, yet here I was walking around safe and sound. I couldn't do it, I wouldn't have been able to do it" he covered his mouth as he tried to somewhat calm himself down so that he wasn't shout-speaking anymore, and once he had collected himself he began to speak again.  
"The only thing that saved me that night was that Sam was still breathing. They put her unconscious body on a stretcher and they moved so fast that I didn't even get to ride in the ambulance with her. A policeman gave me a ride to the hospital and I just sat outside her room for hours and hours, waiting for a sign that she was okay. I wouldn't let the doctors take a look at me until I knew for sure that she was in a stable state. I couldn't leave her. I still wanted to die so badly but I knew that she would need me, and I literally needed her in order to live as well. Jesus, and then that idiot tried to kill herself. She faked that she was sleeping and once the doctors left the room she tried to kill herself. She…she was the only one that I was able to save. That morning when I made her throw up the pills, that was the one time I was able to save any of them, and I vowed that day that I would do whatever it took to keep her out of harm's way and continue to protect her. I made sure to do whatever Shredder asked, even if it meant leaving Sam alone at home a lot. My actual job was through the clan and some nights I even told her that I was working when really I had to complete missions for Shredder. He was the reason I wasn't able to be with her this past anniversary and I knew that would crush her, but as long as she was alive and safe then that's all the mattered…but that all changed recently."  
"Wait hold up" Leo cut in. "If Sam knew all this, then why didn't she include that part of the story when she finally told this to us?"  
"She never knew" Donnie said softly.  
The remaining three brothers looked to Jay, questioning him if Donnie's theory was true, and they were answered as Jay nodded his head.  
"I never told her, hell I never told anyone. I never got a chance to tell my parents about the attack I had witnessed, and I was so afraid at the ages of 15 to 17 to tell anyone anything since I knew they would strike again if I ratted the clan out, so I kept everything to myself. My birth parents, my adopted parents, all my siblings including Sam until a month ago never knew any of this."  
"What happened a month ago?" Mikey asked.  
"Well…a few months ago it was discovered that Sam was hanging out with friends of April O'Neil's, so Shredder had people looking into who those friends were, and it was assumed that those friends were you guys. That ties back into why I couldn't be with Sam on the night of the anniversary. I was actually being held captive at headquarters all night, and Shredder was the one who forced me into agreeing to let you guys assist her in visiting the graves. I wanted to say no for safety reasons since I knew Shredder was looking for you guys and had an eye on Sam as well, but I was forced to say yes and that same night his soldiers spotted you all together from afar. A few nights later I overheard those same soldiers say that they were going to capture her and force her to spill what info she knew about you guys, and whether they killed her or not would depend on what information she would reveal. So that final night when I picked her up after seeing you guys, I told her everything that I just told all of you. I told her that I understood if she hated me and never wanted to see me again. I told her that I would risk my life in order to help her escape and get as far away from the city as I possibly could send her so that she would be safe from Shredder, regardless of how she felt about me."  
At this time Jay had begun lightly sobbing again.  
"But she wouldn't do it. That little shit wouldn't leave me alone. She kept telling me that it wasn't my fault and that I did what I thought was best for everyone. She said she didn't want to run away and rather she wanted to trick Shredder into thinking she wanted to help make the clan stronger."  
"So she willingly joined. She joined to protect both of you" Leo said in a pained voice.  
"Shit" Raph mumbled as he closed his eyes and clenched his fists. He hated himself so much right now. If all of this was true then he had truly pushed Sam over the edge the night of the incident for no reason. He had antagonized her by calling her a liar when everything she had said was true, and there was more to the truth than he could have ever imagined.  
"Why didn't she just tell us where her mind was at then? We could have helped her if we had known what her plan was" Donnie said in an aggravated voice.  
Jay shook his head.  
"She didn't want to get you guys involved. She knew that you were trying to keep your new home a secret from Shredder and she also didn't want to risk losing any of you guys. She knows how strong and how skilled all of you are, but she would never forgive herself if something terrible happened to any of you because you went to help her. Once she joined the clan she learned that things were a million times worse than she could have ever imagined. In order to protect you, she's been playing dumb with Shredder. She openly admitted to knowing you, but she said that you only took her to your old home that was destroyed last year. She has yet to reveal any new information about you guys and she is actually prolonging giving any info away by volunteering to study as much as she can from the Foot so that she can fight you all herself. It's a lie she came up with to buy time so that she can get on Shredder's good side and then stab him in the back when the time is right."  
"GOD DAMNIT!" Mikey shouted as he punched the wall. He didn't leave the room, but he walked over towards the eatery on the other side of the lair. Hearing that his friend had stayed loyal to them all along and to know that they had treated her the way they had was crushing his soul and he was fighting to remain as calm as he possibly could. He had treated his best friend like shit, and what was she doing? She was risking her life to protect him and his brothers.  
"She was also terrified of losing your trust," Jay continued.  
"How did she figure that?" April asked in confusion.  
"She said that you guys were all finally opening up to her and that you were even generous enough to say that she was like a sister to each of you, and she feared that if she said she had a reason for joining the Foot clan that all of you would go back to thinking she was a spy and that everything was a lie and that she couldn't be trusted. Because of this she took the risk of not telling you guys about her willingly joining the clan. She hoped that everything would be over quick enough that you would never know that she had aided the clan in any way at any time, but then that interferes with the final reason she joined: there's a rebellion forming and we're finally close to making our move."  
"What rebellion?" Leo asked with concern.  
"For the past four months A LOT of people have been discussing plans on how to bring down the main New York branch."  
"Why would Shredders troops want to take him down?" Raph asked.  
"Because more than half of his New York troops have been forced into the clan."  
"Including Irma?" April asked with sorrow.  
"Who?" Leo asked.  
"My friend at work, the reason I knew about Sam's past before any of you did. Every day since the butt dial incident I've tried to contact her and ask her more about Sam, but she's been out of work for a while now."  
Jay nodded his head. "She's a perfect example. Her son Kris ended up in a situation similar to mine. He was a lot younger when it happened though, so the soldiers knocked him out, took his wallet, and dragged his body back home. They told Irma and her daughter Brenda that they could both join the Foot clan and keep all three of their lives, or that the women would be spared at the expense of Kris's life. Obviously neither of them were going to let him die, so all three of them were forced into the group. Irma, Brenda, and Kris are some of the ones who are lucky enough to still get to live life by day and work for the Foot by night. There are countless examples of these type of people being forced into the Foot clan. The Tokyo branch is where the numerous numbers of loyal soldiers hide, and the New York branch is filled with people who are mostly tricked and forced to cooperate with Shredder's orders. But we've been carefully planning a rebellion for a long time now, and Sam wanted in on that in order to help protect her new family and also to avenge her original."  
"Does this rebellion have anything to do with the lack of Foot activity lately?" Splinter asked.  
"Yes. Shredder has been receiving countless amounts of mutagen. He has no idea where it's been coming from, but he's had his teams studying and experimenting with it. For weeks now he's had EVERYONE in the New York branch look into how to use these mutagens as weapons, as in hand held items and also mixing these chemicals with the human body. Sam knew how dangerous all this was and wanted to keep you guys as far away from these threats as she could."  
Leo sighed. "Is this why she was pushing us away the other night?"  
Jay shot the turtle a confused look. "What are you talking about?"  
"The other night Sam came back to the lair and stole some stuff that originally belonged to her. When I told her that night that it was the last chance she had to tell me the complete and honest truth, she lied and told me that she had been working for Shredder for a few years now, that Shredder knew where our home was and that he was packing up the clan and heading back to Japan, and that our friendship was all a farce and that she never saw any of us as her brothers."  
Jay's face scrunched up as he closed his eyes and tilted his head back. "Ahhh so that's what happened that night."  
"You didn't know?" Leo asked.  
"Well apparently you two were the only ones that did" Raph ridiculed since he and Donnie had been left in the dark in regards to learning about this information.  
Leo turned towards his brother, frustration written all over his face. "We discussed this earlier. You and Donnie made it very clear that you weren't ready to search for Sam yet, so I kept this information between me and Mikey."  
"Do you enjoy lying to your brothers Leo?"  
"Would you rather me enjoy forcing you into situations that make you uncomfortable and make you explode? I mean hey you're the king at being a jerk to people aren't you Raph? You know better than any of us what it's like to push someone to their limits to the point that they almost killed you because of it" Leo stated harshly.  
Raph clenched his fists together and was about to speak when Mikey came back over and interrupted his two brothers.  
"Dudes enough! Stop arguing about the past and let's move forward already! You guys all wanted answers, right? Well you just got them! So stop fighting and let's go get Sam back!"  
"Are you kidding me?! She's made it clear that she wants to stay away from us for various reasons, and I'm still not so sure that I want to talk to her just yet!"  
"Are you serious?" Mikey questioned out loud. He then turned towards the third oldest. "Donnie, you've changed your mind, right?"  
Donnie sighed and gave his brother a solemn look. "Mikey, Sam made decisions for us that she shouldn't have. If she really wanted us to work together and for us to keep trusting her then she should have told us the truth from the beginning."  
Mikey's jaw dropped. "How… how could you? Sam is literally putting her life on the line to help keep us safe, and instead of rescuing her you guys just want to sit around and do nothing? Sam could die if one thing goes wrong at headquarters and we're not going to anything about it?! We abandoned her the night of the incident because we didn't understand her, yet when we finally understand we're going to continue to abandon her?! In our own ways we were ALL chasing her down just the other night so that we could figure out what the heck was going on! And Raph, you wanted to know about her eyes and…and…"  
Mikey turned towards Jay in a panic. "What was wrong with her eyes?"  
Jay bit his lip as if he was thinking about how to word what he was going to say next.  
"The first night of her initiation…Shredder needed a reason as to why he should let someone who might be seen as a threat work for him…so Sam volunteered to be a test subject for some of the new cases of mutagen that Shredder received that night."  
"Oh Samantha…" Splinter mumbled, his heart hurting for the girl and the situation she had gotten wrapped up in.  
"Luckily it didn't change her looks or anything, but it gave her incredible strength, hence why she was able to gain a leader's armband in such a short period of time. The mutagen for strength is what made her pupils' and the iris in each of her eyes blue, but she's also been studying another mutagen that's a blackish gel. That one she's been using to power her sleeve, but sometime it accidentally touches and then absorbs in with her skin. Luckily that one is also physically harmless, but now the sclera, or the white part of her eyes will turn black when she activates her powers. The blackish gel is used for wind power and it matches well with the blue mutagen that provides the immense strengthening power. She has capsules that contain both and she's a terrifying opponent when she injects into her skin and uses both at the same time."  
Mikey closed his eyes tight, trying to think of the positive facts (like that Sam was at least still alive and well) so that he wouldn't let his fuse burn out and him explode again like earlier. He just couldn't handle hearing all of this information about his best friend.  
Raph and Donnie felt the exact same way and they just needed to leave the room. Raph walked away and headed towards his bedroom. Donnie walked towards his lab nearby, but paused. He continued to face the direction of where his lab was located and he spoke to Jay in this position.  
"How did you figure out where our location was?" he asked.  
Jay figured this question was aimed at him. "I secretly took some of Sam's gear which included the camera detector. Eventually I came across a tunnel where a camera was detected, but the device stated that the camera was shut off. I started using that tunnel to find your lair, but that's when your dad found me."  
Everyone could sense that the wheels in the brainy turtles head were rapidly spinning around and around and soon after he was rushing out of the lair.  
"Well, I haven't talked to the Brainiac in a while, so I'll go calm him while you talk to the hot head?" April asked Splinter.  
The rat nodded his head and the two walked after the turtles who had left the room in worry that either might do something they'd regret later on. 

Jay turned towards Mikey and gave him a small sincere smile.  
"Thank you."  
Mikey looked at him in confusion. "For what?"  
"For continuing to look out for my sister. You really saved her, and in ways that I and no one else could."  
"…hey Jay. When we first met Sam, Donnie found some footage of her from her school and she always seemed to be alone, and as we got closer to her she even said that she didn't have many friends at school. Why?"  
Jay pursed his lips together. "Because all the friends she had when she was younger, they were all members of the Foot clan."  
Both Mikey and Leo's eyes went wide once they heard this.  
"How is that possible?" Leo asked. "Wouldn't they have been as young as her? Since she was only 12 when you lost your siblings."  
"Like I said, A LOT of people have been forced into the Foot clan, and that includes huge numbers of young children. Some are basically raised in the clan, and so many are practically brainwashed to think that serving Shredder is their true purpose in life. I know my sister meant a lot to you guys and each and every one of you means the world to her, and I didn't come here to beg you to forgive her or anything, but please…if you can, please help us tomorrow night."  
"The rebellion is tomorrow night?" Mikey asked with a gasp.  
"Yes. Tomorrow is the night. Thousands of people's lives will be on the line, including Sam's. All of her friends from her childhood were secretly members of the Foot clan for various reasons, and that's why she was always alone. They couldn't talk to her, not when they knew the truth behind why she kept losing the most important people in her life, and even after time had passed and they believed they could talk to her again without those jabs of guilt hurting them, Sam was already so far gone. She probably told you that no one ever wants to hang out with her, right? That was true for say 6 months, but it took such a toll on her emotionally that for years she still thinks that people don't want to be around her…but you saved her from that. You brought her back and made her smile and act silly in ways I haven't seen in such a long time. If none of you want to come back and rescue her then fine, I understand since sadly she hurt you guys in ways she can't take back, I understand that more than anyone. But there are two reasons why I came here tonight. 1. Even if you don't help her, please try to find a way to get all those innocent civilians to safe refuge tomorrow night. If anyone can help save them then it's you guys. 2. I don't know what will happen to me or Sam tomorrow. I'll risk my life to keep her safe, and if that happens and I don't make it then I needed you guys to at least know the truth about all that has happened. I wouldn't be able to rest peacefully in my grave knowing that you guys still saw her as a traitor and-"  
"Dude stop" Mikey cut in. "You're not allowed to die, don't you get that? Even if Sam gave us a chance to talk to her again, she literally can't live without you. You have to live if you want Sam to survive after tomorrow night."  
Jay couldn't help but smile at the orange bearing turtle.  
"Thank you for caring so much about her. It means as much to me as it does to her. You all gave and brought back so much from the life that she lost and she loves the hell out of all of you. Oh! But if you ever see her again then you can't tell her I said that or else she'll kick my butt! And she can actually do that now" Jay said with a faint laugh. He then checked his watch and his laugh turned into a gasp as he saw what time it was.  
"Oh crap I need to go or else people will start wondering where I am. Anyway, if possible then please at least help make sure the innocent escape he building safely, and whatever happens between you and Sam is up to all of you after that. This rebellion is literally going to make a huge change within all of the city. Thank you for listening to me guys, I really appreciate it." 

And with that Jay ran out of the lair, making sure to put his mask back on as he did so.  
Leo turned towards his brother and quickly spoke before Mikey could storm his way to his bedroom.  
"Mikey…give them some time, okay?"  
Michelangelo paused, and then continued on towards his room. He just couldn't believe his brothers right now. Sam needed them now more than ever and yet they were still pushing her away. But Mikey knew one thing for a fact, regardless of how his brothers felt by tomorrow night, he was going to save Sam, no matter what the cost. 

**OH MY GOSH YESSSSSS!  
I long for chapters like this where so much secrecy is revealed! Hopefully everything makes sense though. One of my biggest fears is that things won't make sense and that the details seem really choppy and all over the place. In books, movies, etc. some of my most favorite scenes are when the audience goes 'ohhhhh I get it! Everything makes sense now!' and hopefully that's how this chapter played out.  
**

**I hope you guys are still enjoying the story and again any constructive criticism is always appreciated.**

**Also just to clarify, since I know I've changed this concept so many times, this SHOULD BE THE OFFICIAL way that Sam's mutagen powers work and look on her:**

**Sclera (white part of the eye) = Wind powers/Black color  
Iris and Pupil = Strength powers/Blue color**

**So there's blue color in the center that it then surrounded by white. Hopefully this makes sense. I know when she almost killed Raph and punched him into the wall I had it the other way around but this SHOULD be the official way of explaining it. I keep thinking of how that would look (since this will come into play wayyyyy further down the line) and every time I think of it I always want to change it. So this should be the last time, but if for whatever reason I decided to keep flipping back and forth then I'll make sure to clarify once again. **


	25. Chapter 25

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.  
**

Chapter #25 

***Still Aug. 31****st****, later that night into the early morning*  
*Donnie's lab*  
Themes throughout the chapter:  
Skillet-Believe  
Skillet-Say Goodbye  
Skillet-Everything Turns Black  
Hurts-Stay  
**

Donnie rushed back into his lab and quickly sat down in his swivel chair. He had gained so much momentum that he had to cling to the desk so that the wheels didn't drag him to the other side of the room since he had sat down so fast. He was holding a small Lexar SD card in his hand and he was carefully but quickly inserting it into his computer. As soon as he had heard Jay say that he found their lair through the tunnel that they had rarely ever used then he had some suspicions. Once that suspicion entered his mind, he was off. He had sprinted through the tunnels until he had reached the camera that was located in that tunnel way and just like the man had said, it was disabled. Donnie checked and discovered that the SD card was still inside the camera and he prayed that it was still in good condition. Now that he was in his lab and at his computer he was able to confirm that all the footage being held on the card was safe and in good quality. He pulled up files and files of weeks to months' worth of footage until he came across the very last file. It was just as he had thought, the last set of footage was from the incident with Sam earlier that month. 

He paused for a moment, took a deep breath in, and then cupped his hands around his mouth as he slowly exhaled. He tried to make sure that he was calm before he played this video since he wasn't exactly sure what he would see. All the thoughts in his mind were still jumbled up after everything that Jay had told them mere hours ago and he knew that whatever he would watch now would just make his thoughts even more crazy and chaotic. But he needed to see this footage because it was this that would allow him to officially decide how he felt about this entire situation. He took one final long deep breath and clicked the play button. 

The camera was placed at the end of the tunnel so that you could see the entire walk way rather than just one section, and after a couple of minutes of the reel starting, Sam appeared at the far end of the tunnel. As she sulked forward, Donnie could see that her eyes were still a bright blue shinning color. Donnie lightly shuttered when a huge unexpected gust of air flew out from Sam's sides even though she hadn't moved and was just standing there in the middle of the tunnel way. It was hard to hear and see at first, but whimpers could be heard from Sam as tears started streaming down her cheeks. She then clenched her hands into fists and started screaming as she started punching the walls.  
_"Why couldn't you just keep your mouth shut?!" _Sam started shouting._ "Why couldn't you just shut up and listen?!"  
_It was obvious that her original expression was filled with nothing but anger and fury, but it gradually turned into an apologetic expression that was filled with regret._  
"I could have killed you…I almost killed you…" _Sam said as she then began to clutch her sides. She started shivering from fear. _  
"How could I do that…what have I done…" _At this time Sam was still holding her sides but she was now leaning against the wall for support, almost like she would have collapsed to the floor if the wall hadn't been there to hold her up._  
"Their faces…I'm sorry…I'm sorry…" _she repeated over and over again. That's all she said for the longest time as she sulked in her hunched over position along the wall. She continued to stay this way until something must have clicked in her mind. She looked up at the wall in front of her and just stared wide eyed in that direction for the longest time until suddenly she went from looking and acting apologetic to furious as she went back to clenching her fists._  
"This is all your fault, you took my family away from me again!" _Sam said as she went back to shouting. She was now pacing back and forth along the tunnel way as she continued to shout to herself.  
_"First you steal my siblings parents, then my parents, then my siblings, and I FINALLY!" _she said as she once again punched the wall_, "I FINALLY find people who make me happy again and give my life meaning and answer my prayers of asking my siblings to send me a sign that they're still watching over me and YOU TOOK THEM AWAY FROM ME! YOU STOLE EVERYTHING AGAIN! Screw you Shredder! You can't ruin my life anymore if I'm not here!"  
_And that fast Sam ran towards the wall headfirst, bashing her head so hard that a loud smack sound came from the collision. Donnie's eyes went wide as he saw the girl lie on the ground with slight bleeding coming from her forehead. He sped up the footage to see what had happened to her next, terrified that something horrible could have happened to her while she lie there alone and unprotected. Within minutes he skimmed over four hours' worth of footage until he finally saw Sam get back up. She slowly and groggily raised herself into an upright sitting position. She leaned her back against the wall for support and laid her legs in front of her flat on the ground. It seemed that she was fighting to keep her eyes open, but after a few minutes she won as her eyes popped open wide. Donnie assumed that she was realizing all that had happened based on her reaction, and the next part was what hurt more than anything else he had seen.  
Sam pulled out her cell phone and her face sunk even more as she looked at the screen. Donnie wasn't sure what she was looking at since the camera angle only captured the back of the phone, but his thoughts were answered when he saw Sam bend her knees and pull them in and up to her chin and say_ "Nothing. No messages. They didn't come for me…they aren't coming for me…I'm on my own again. I made the wrong choice and now NONE of them want me around anymore, not even him. I'm so sorry…" _She then buried her face in her knees as she lightly sobbed. After a few minutes of this, Sam stood up and used her hands to dry her eyes, and she began to exit the tunnel. As she got closer and closer to the tunnel's exit, she finally realized that there had been a security camera filming her the entire time. She looked right into the lens and said_ "Don't come after me, I don't deserve you guys anyway…but don't worry, I promise I'll do everything I can to keep you guys safe. It's the only way I can make it up to al of you. You can live your lives peacefully without ever having to see me again" _and then the screen went blank. That was the last piece of footage both from that day and in general since Sam had shut down the camera as she said her last intended words for the turtles. 

Donnie was so pissed that he stood up, picked up his swivel chair, and threw it against a small open space against the wall in the room.  
"You wanna talk about it?" April asked cautiously.  
Donnie turned back around to see April sitting on the bed in the far corner of the room and that the door was shut. How did she keep doing that? Were his emotions messing with his mind so much that he couldn't even sense another person entering his most secretive space (besides his bedroom that is)?  
"Not really, but I'm sure that's what you're supposed to do in this situation" he said as he put his hands on the back of his head, trying to compose himself and make sure that April never saw him react like that to anything ever again.  
"So, what part of the video caused that reaction?"  
Donnie blushed a bit. "You saw the video? How long have you been in here?"  
"Umm, well first yes I saw the video, and second, I've been sitting here since the video started playing. I've actually been trying to catch up to you ever since you rushed out of the lair earlier and this is where I finally caught up."  
"Why were you following me?"  
"I followed you and Splinter followed Raph. We had a feeling you two might need some company right now."  
Donnie sighed as he went to sit down, and then fell to the floor. April quickly stood up and walked over to Donnie as she bent over and reached her arm out.  
"You threw it against the wall, remember?"  
"Heh, right" he said as he blushed again while taking her hand and standing back up. "Um, to answer your original question about the awkward reaction…all of it."  
"The entire video set you off?" April asked as she sat on top of the lab table.  
"Pretty much. It's just…my mind is so hectic right now, and not in the 'stressed from cracking so many codes' type way like when I have a million projects to work on" he said as he walked over and set his chair back up and moved his seat closer to the table his friend was sitting on.  
"Okay, let's break it down piece by piece. How did you feel when you saw Sam punching walls and screaming in the beginning?"  
"Honestly, I thought I would want to think 'she deserves to act this way after what she did'…but I didn't. I wanted to reach out and tell her that it wasn't all her fault. I wanted to comfort her like when…"  
"When she used to be like family?" April cut in.  
Donnie didn't give a verbal response, but he nodded his head as his gaze faced the floor.  
"I should hate her, I want to hate her. Maybe it's everything that Jay said earlier today, since all of that made a lot more sense and everything he said sounded exactly like Sam, or at least it sounded like the Sam we once knew."  
"So basically you couldn't keep yourself from wanting to comfort her, almost like if you were comforting a sister?"  
"Yeah" the turtle mumbled.  
"Is that how you felt when you saw her crying? Or when you saw her yelling at Shredder?"  
"Actually, I wanted to tell her more than that. I felt the need to confront her and tell her that I understood her and that it wasn't her fault…but it is! I mean she hid information from us that obviously back fired and started this horrible situation in the first place! And even when she had chances to confess to us herself, she still ran away! Don't we mean more to her than that? Obviously we don't mean enough to her since she keeps telling us to stay away and since she keeps hiding from us."  
"Donnie…" April said gently, "didn't you see her crying? Didn't you see her apologizing for and questioning her actions? That plus everything Jay said about her covering for you guys, it's easy to see that she loves the hell out of all of you. Do you honestly believe anything you've been telling me, or are those the thoughts you think you should have?"  
"…I know it's what I think I should be thinking, but supporting her just seems wrong. I keep thinking about all the bad that's happened this past month, but then randomly hearing that she's been protecting us this entire time and then watching her reactions to that night in this video makes it seem like she's on our side again and it's just so confusing."  
"Then think about this. Mikey told me you guys were chasing her the other night. Why were you chasing after her if you think you should hate her so much?"  
Donnie paused for a good while before he finally spoke again. "I wanted answers and I wanted to know the truth. I wanted to know if things would ever go back to the way they used to be. I mean…in a way I never want them to go back to the way they used to be, but now knowing that Sam is really on our side…I just want to go back" he said as he pushed his glasses up and covered his eyes with his palms. He never expected Sam to make him feel emotional like this (or at all) when they all first met, and yet here he was trying to calm himself from getting upset at everything that had happened.  
"Is that how you felt at the end of the video? When she talked about no one coming after her."  
"That's the worst part," he said, fighting to remain calm but still letting out small choked sobs as he talked. "If Sam really is the person that this video shows her to be, and if everything Jay said was true, then we just abandoned out sister who's been loyal to us the entire time since day one. We've been letting her deal with the Foot clan and Shredder and everything in between all by herself. And that's the thing, she didn't want to do everything alone. Jay said that she thought the rebellion would take place way sooner than it has, and she didn't want to lose our trust and so she did everything on her own, but she never wanted that. She probably wanted to tell us everything from the beginning but she thought that for everyone's sake it would be best to handle things on her own which is what she's been doing since her siblings died, but she never wanted that from the start. And then when a time came for us to back her up and listen, we pushed her away. And even after we did all that she's still protecting us! And knowing Shredder he's not taking that lightly! Every physical pain, every built up emotion in this video, I'm sure Shredder is constantly making her feel that every day times ten!"  
"So what is your gut telling you to do? You hate seeing her in pain, right? You want things to go back to the way they used to be, right? So what are you going to do about it?" April asked in a serious tone.  
Donnie removed his hands from his face and looked back up at April. He could sense what she was getting at and he realized that he finally knew what he wanted to do. After weeks of not understanding what was happening and going back and forth from knowing and not knowing what was true and not being able to differentiate what he felt from what he thought he should have felt, he finally came to a conclusion on what should happen next. Donnie stood up and for the first time displayed a harsh and rigid expression on his face. He clenched his fist together and shot April a sharp glare full of confidence. He wished he had known a lot of this information earlier, but whether it was true or not he wanted to believe that Sam was still the good hearted woman they had all come to know and love, and he was tired of waiting around for the next answer to come sneaking its way into his home. He wanted to hear everything from Sam herself, to see how she would react to seeing them and to have that be the official answer to all his questions and comments. He knew what needed to be done and he was finally ready to admit it. 

"I'm going to go get Sam back" he said, and he rushed out the door so that he could try to convince his brothers to join him. 

***A few minutes earlier, Raph's room*  
** Raph was pacing back and forth in his room. He wanted to beat the shit out of his punching bag…except he had used up all the bags just a few days ago. Chasing after Sam with Donnie nights previous had triggered his rage once again and within a few days of the event he went right back to his extreme and brutal workouts. Since currently there was nothing he could destroy, or at least nothing that wouldn't upset the rest of his family, he was trying to slow down his breathing as he paced back and forth in his room. He was so lost in thought that he hadn't heard Splinter knock multiple times and with no response slowly open up the door and peek his head inside. Splinter watched as his son continued to walk back and forth over and over again.  
"Raphael…" he said softly.  
Raph still couldn't hear him as he continued to pace back and forth. Splinter entered the room and walked over to a spot that would cross his son's path. Raph turned around and almost jumped in shock at randomly seeing his father standing directly behind him.  
"Jeez dad. Knock much?" he asked, shaking his head to calm himself from the jump scare.  
"I did knock, three times to be exact" his father said. It wasn't a question, but Raph could tell by the way his father spoke that he was questioning his current behavior.  
"*sigh* I'm scared dad" Raph said as he sat down on his bed.  
"You're still afraid of Samantha hurting you?" Splinter asked in a confused tone.  
"No, I'm not scared of that anymore. I've come to terms with the fact that if I had treated her differently then maybe she wouldn't have become so violent. That's how it was when we first met her to" Raph said. He hadn't realized that as he said this last part that he had started looking off into space, losing himself in his thoughts as he remembered everything that had happened when Sam first came into their lives and noticing the similarities in those times verse how things were now.  
Splinter however picked up on his sons actions and tried to bring him back to the topic at hand.  
"So what exactly is it that you're afraid of then my son?" Splinter asked calmly.  
Raph closed his eyes for a few seconds, calming himself before he answered his father's question.  
"For the reason I just explained to you dad. I'm the reason she acted the way she did. If everything Jay told us was true, then that means Sam tried to explain what she was going through the night that we pushed her away. She reached out to us, to me, the one who was in the room with her. And what did I do? I insulted her family right to her face." Raph then balled his fist as he firmly grasped at the bedsheets on his mattress. "And to make matters worse, I was so scared and pissed in the moment when she attacked me that night that during the weeks that followed I continued to blame her for what I had done wrong. Everyone thought that she had tried to hurt me for no reason, but I was the sole reason for my own pain, yet I continued to blame her. Why didn't I learn from when we first met her? I treated her like shit in the beginning and the only time she cooperated with us when Mikey was kind to her, so why the hell would I think treating her like shit would be the best route to take now?"  
Splinter hated to hear people curse, but he knew that now was not the time to complain about such habits. He could tell his son was hurting emotionally and that now was the time to be sympathetic rather than ridiculing.  
"A wise man once said: The more sand has escaped from the hourglass of our life, the clearer we should see through it" Splinter said as he smiled down at his son who was still sitting on the bed.  
Raphael shot his dad a bewildered look. "Come again?"  
Splinter let out a light chuckle. "It means that as one ages they will make mistakes, and after you learn how to prevent that mistake from happening again, you will then make even more mistakes."  
"So I need to make mistakes to gain wisdom? No offense Sensei but that sounds dumb" Raph huffed under his breath.  
The old rat chuckled again. "No my son, it means that each time you make a mistake as you grow older that you must learn something new from that experience. Based on the words of the metaphor, as the sand slips through the hourglass, the more clearly we can see the life lessons being taught through it. You will constantly make mistakes throughout your life, but it's up to you to gain experience and knowledge from each one and better yourself. Once you learn how to avoid your previous mistake, something from what you've learned will come up to create a new mistake. It's a cycle that will never end Raphael, and only you can decide whether you will learn from each mistake and become a better person based on what you've learned or not."  
Splinter then put his hand on his sons shoulder as he spoke to him sympathetically.  
"You've heard how Samantha felt that night and you know that even now after all that's happened she is still fighting to protect our family, and you know that you're part of the reason that she left in the first place. You have pushed her away twice now, so what have you gained from this experience? What will you do to fix this problem? What lessons will you learn and overcome as the sand falls in your hourglass my son?"

Raphael smiled up at his father while also glaring at him with confidence. He rose to his feet and cracked his neck to the side.  
"I've learned that I need to stop thinking the worst possible thoughts before getting to know someone. I need to communicate with them before reacting violently, both physically and verbally. I need to be more compassionate and wait to discuss things with my brothers rather than just come at my opponent by myself. And I know that I've been a jerk to Sam in the worst ways possible which has aided in her separation from our family, something that she didn't and still doesn't deserve. In order to fix this situation I'm going to convince my brothers that we should go after Sam and talk to her ourselves and judge the situation based on her own words and reactions."

And before his father could say another word to him, Raph quickly exited his room and headed for the living room.

*A few minutes earlier, the living room*

Leo sat on the raised circular stand that covered the top of Splinter's room and through his meditation reflected on all that had happened that night. He'd be a liar if he said he didn't feel a bit relieved at hearing what Jay had to say. Of course there was still the off chance that Jay was in on a plot against them and that everything he said was a lie…but everything he had said sounded exactly like the Sam they had come to know.  
The details about her wanting to aide in the fall of the Foot matched the adrenaline filled mindset Sam had when she was going through rigorous trainings with the guys, and it sounded exactly like Sam when they were told that she could handle everything on her own in order to prevent the turtles from losing her trust and to prevent them from getting hurt. Ever since Sam had been allowed into the lair on a daily basis she had constantly tried to get closer to the guys and have them gain her trust, and multiple times she had made it known how much she cared for them and their well-being. Leo then thought back to the night that Donnie had pushed her away from the falling debris as they fought some Foot soldiers and how Sam wouldn't leave Donnie's side as she fought off any and all who tried to harm him. Apparently earlier that same day Sam had saved Donnie from falling to his death down an elevator shaft, and she had also helped knock out one of the mutants that was attacking Raph, AND she had even talked to the Mutanimals and because of this she knew how to get the larger of the mutant group to calm down and leave the turtles alone after cornering them. Were all those times she had rescued them just to fake a friendship? Sam was also JUST finally learning what it was like to be part of a family again and that she wasn't alone anymore, so Leo could easily believe that in a situation as crazy as this one that she would have converted back to her old ways and try to handle things by herself.

Leo then added some logic to the equation. It was much more believable that Sam had said all those harsh things to him that night in order to push his family further away from her so that they wouldn't chase her down and try to rescue her from headquarters compared to what she had actually said. She had shared such personal and heartbreaking information with them and had shed so many tears with them the night of the anniversary, so it was difficult for him to believe that all those emotions were fake so that she could get closer to the turtles and gain information about them, especially when she had learned a lot about the guys but she had definitely shared many more stories and much more information about herself. Also, learning that Sam was lying about the turtles location and that she was covering for the guys for the past month, hence no Foot clan attacks in the sewers, made a lot more sense than Shredder moving all the NY clan members back to Tokyo. Learning about Shredders plan also made a lot more sense as to why there was no general Foot clan activity throughout the city.

Leo then slowly opened his eyes as he continued to sit in his meditative position. He had just described so many details about Sam's emotional and physical state of mind which proved how much he had gotten to know the girl within the months that she had been visiting him and his family in the lair, and how did they all treat her after getting to know her? They kicked her out. After all she had shared with them, after showing how much she wanted to help protect them, and even after calling out to them the night of the incident and asking for help, they just left her all alone.

As these thoughts began to wander through Leo's mind, he saw Mikey walking from the dojo and across the room to the exit way by the living room.  
"Mikey-"  
"You know," Mikey cut in as he was walking past Leo and then deadpanned and started ranting as he stood in place, using his hands as he spoke furiously, "I'm the only one who's been trying to figure out what was going on because I knew something wasn't right. No one else did anything but sulk and hide. And what did we learn? I was right the entire time, and do you know what that means? It-"  
"It means that Sam called out for help and we ignored her and pushed her away to the point where she was suffering all alone again."  
Leo and Mikey turned their eyes towards Donatello who had just stepped out of his lab and was walking over towards where his brothers were.  
"I just watched video footage of how Sam reacted to the events from that night."  
"What?" Mikey asked lightly, his expression instantly switching from furious to concerned.  
Donnie nodded. "I found the tunnel that Sam left through that night, it was the same one Jay used to sneak into our home. The camera at the end of that tunnel had footage of how Sam reacted to the incident that night, and let's just say it says a lot about how she really does hate what happened that night and that she truly does care about us."  
"I want to-"  
"No you don't" Donnie said as he cut off his younger brother. "You don't want to see it."  
"Donnie I WANT-"  
"I threw a chair at the wall" Donnie muttered as he pursed his lips together. "I've never reacted that way to anything, but that's the only way I could respond to what I saw. So trust me when I say that you don't want to see it."  
Mikey was silent, but he nodded his head.  
"There's only one way to fix this," Raph said as he entered the room to Donnie's right and the other two's left where the bedrooms were located, "we need to hear all this from Sam herself. What her intentions were, why she did what she did, everything." Raph then turned towards his youngest brother and gave him an apologetic look. "And this time we'll listen, all of us."  
Mikey could tell that Raph was singling himself out in the fact that it was him who truly needed to listen and that he was ready to own up to and fix his mistake in how he treated Sam that night.  
Mikey's jaw then dropped slightly as he realized what all his brothers were getting at.  
"Wait…you guys don't mean…"  
"You know, you need to learn to listen" Leo said with a small smile as he glared at his brother in confidence, just like Raph and Donnie were doing as well. "I was going to tell you the same thing, but it looks like I was beaten to it thanks to your outburst. So, who's ready to create a revenge plan against Shredder and bring Sam back?"

Mikey had no words to say. He was overjoyed that his brothers were finally looking at the situation the same way he had been. It took them all awhile, but now everyone was on the same page. If he ever got to meet him again then Mikey knew he would have to thank Jay for aiding in getting his brothers to finally come to the conclusion that Sam was still the same girl they had all come to know and love and that she needed their help, something she had been asking for from the beginning. It was much more believable that Sam had said all those harsh things to him that night in order to push his family further away from her so that they wouldn't chase her down and try to rescue her from headquarters than what she had actually said. She had shared such personal and heartbreaking information with them and had shed so many tears with them the night of the anniversary, so it was difficult for him to believe that all those emotions were fake so that she could get closer to him and his brothers. For now though, Mikey just smiled and glared with confidence in the same way his brothers had been as they all gathered up and began plotting how they were going to save both Sam and the entire city and how they would participate in the fall of the Foot clan later that night.

**Sorry I know this is one of my smaller chapters, but I wanted to keep it separate from the next one since it should be really long. There's going to be a lot of important and dramatic and exciting events coming up and I wanted to keep this part separate from that. But I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far and that you'll be excited for what comes next. **


	26. Chapter 26

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's.  
**

Chapter #26 

***Monday September 1****st****, 7:30p.m.*  
**

The turtles were sneaking around throughout the city streets, looking for any one lone member of the Purple Dragons. They hated how long they needed to wait, but they couldn't go out until it was dark enough and finally they felt that they would be safe enough to hide within the shadows. After searching for a while, Raph finally spotted a man with the Purple Dragons tattoo walking down an alley with a few other guys. The group of men said something amongst each other and then parted ways, and that's when it was time for the turtles to attack. 

They all nodded in agreement of the plan and they moved swiftly down towards the ground. The man was clueless when a large green hand grabbed him and pulled him into the shadows of the alleyway he was walking by. He tried to yell, but Raph's hand muffled his voice. Leo and Donnie patted down his pockets until they felt and pulled out the walkie talkie from his jacket pocket.  
"Mikey was this it?" Donnie asked.  
"Yeah, it looked like that."  
As soon as the man saw Michelangelo he truly began to panic, squirming as much as he could (which was barely at all) within Raph's grasp.  
It took him a second, but Mikey recognized the face that was in front of him.  
"Ohhhh hey guys, this was the guy I ran into the other day. Let me talk to him, kay?"  
The three brothers looked at each other and shrugged.  
Mikey walked over and shot the man an evil smile. He talked to the man in an animated yet twisted voice.  
"Heyyyy buddy, remember me? I'm the guy you and your crew pissed off the other day. You're a horrible liar and didn't follow through on our deal, so I'm gonna take this okay?" he said deviously as he held up the walkie talkie and crushed it in his hands. "You're not going to use this anymore okay? And you see your legs? You better talk or else I'm going to break them as well, got it?"  
The man shivered as he nodded his head.  
Raph lifted his hand away from the man's face slowly in case he decided to start screaming and blow their cover, but he remained quiet which shocked the other three who had never seen Mikey talk or act in such a way, and to them it was a bit scary how easily he could snap and make this man fall for his 'tough guy' act. "_Has he always been able to do this?"_ they thought to themselves as they continued to watch him interact with the man.  
"Okay, okay. I'll do whatever you want, just don't kill me" the man begged.  
"Pshh, we're not going to kill you, but we will find more brutal ways of making you talk" Mikey said with a sly grin as he nodded his head and cracked his knuckles.  
"Alright, what do you want from me?"  
"What is Shredder planning? What is happening tonight that is such a big deal?"  
"Ummmm okay so Shredder has been getting these shipments of mutagen, I swear I don't know who from no one does, but he's been having the brainiac's of the clan use the mutagen to make weapons. From what I know those weapons are all ready to be used and will be used to attack people on the streets at 10p.m. tonight. They plan on stealing money, electronic devices, weapons, whatever they think they need to make their clan stronger. Ummmm all his non-fighters will be locked up in cells in about half an hour, if that means anything. That and anyone who tries to stop him will be killed OR will be forced into a position in the clan that Shredder deems fit, but that's obvious. Look that's all I know okay I swear! I'm only a Dragon so I only know a little bit. Hell we are used to bring in the shipments but then we don't even get a mutagen weapon, not even tonight when everyone gets one. It's messed up I tell ya."  
"What did you expect? You're working for Shredder!" Raph cut in.  
"But we were promised money, women, power! And we're all still waiting for that!"  
Raph shoved the man into the wall so fast that the man couldn't even react and that fast was back to being held in Raph's strong grip.  
"Bastard, you don't deserve any of those things just for being so greedy that you made the worst decision in the world and joined the dumbest gang ever" Raph said as he rolled his eyes.  
"Why is Shredder doing this? What will he gain from taking over the entire city and forcing people into his clan?" Leo asked.  
"I don't know all the details, but I've heard it has something to do with avenging his older brother, Oroku Nagi. Some guy named Yoshi wronged him or something in the past and Shredder aka Oroku Saki has been fighting to avenge him ever since."  
"Well this is new information" Donnie stated. "Sachs never mentioned that to us when he told us his plan months ago when he captured us."  
"It either wasn't that important, or Shredder didn't want us to know what his weaknesses were, and his older brother might be one of them. But we need one last piece of information" Leo said as he looked back over at the man in Raph's arms, "where are the Foot's current headquarters located?"  
"Birchwood St. It's the tallest building, 15 floors to be exact, and it's right across the street from a parking garage that's only a couple of floors less."  
The turtles all looked at each other and nodded. Raph clung tighter to the man as Donnie pulled out some bandage wraps from one of his pouches and used them to cover the man's eyes and mouth. The guys traveled quickly by foot since luckily they weren't far away from where headquarters was said to be. Raph had practically dragged the man along with him and once the group reached their destination down below, they hid in a nearby alley. Raph dropped the man on the ground and nothing could be heard except the creaking of a dumpster. The man tried screaming, but his sounds were muffled through the bandage wraps. He then sat quickly as he sensed a presence right by his ears.  
"Don't worry, no one will hurt you. But we're going to leave you here so in case you're lying to us, no one will ever find you either" Raph whispered.  
The man began to make noises again, but they were quickly cut off as the turtles flipped the dumpster over so that the man was now inside the dumpster as it lay upside down on the ground.  
"Uh guys, we may have an issue" Donnie announced. None of them realized that as soon as the dumpster was planted back on the ground he had pulled out multiple devices that he was now using to scan for all types of cameras nearby.  
"What's wrong?" Leo asked.  
"There's cameras."  
"No shit!" Raph said before being slapped by his older brother.  
"Well, yeah. We expected that" Leo stated to Donnie, a bit confused as to why his brother was so worried since he had knocked out and altered cameras thousands of times before tonight.  
"I mean that there's a ton more cameras than usual. This definitely has to be the right place based on that alone, that or their cover up building is doing a really good job at faking it. Regardless, it will take forever to enter the building and try to find out since it's going to take a long time to fix all these cameras."  
"Are there any obvious ones?" Raph asked.  
Donnie looked across his screens and quickly noticed a pattern.  
"More than half of them have red dots. If you look up carefully then you can see a few of them on the roof above us. Why do you ask?"  
"You still have that device you used to communicate with that cockroach?"  
"…yeah?"  
"Good stuff" Raph said as he then brought his finger and thumb to his mouth and whistled loudly. His brothers watched him with muddled faces as they wondered why he was just staring up at the sky like he was just waiting for something to magically appear. He then randomly started smiling as he continued to look up into the sky.  
"Donnie, animal talking device" Raph announced as he held his hand out.  
At first Donnie was reluctant to follow his brother's order, but he soon saw a pigeon flying down from above, and out of curiosity he decided to reach into his pack and hand his older brother the device.  
Raph then held his arm out as the pigeon gently landed on it and softly cooed when the large turtle used his finger to gently pet and stroke the top of the birds head.  
"Hey little guy, remember me?" Raph asked with a gentle smile. He then went to put the small head piece on the bird. The pigeon then started to hop to the side some, almost looking frightened, if pigeons could display that emotion.  
"Hey now, you know I would never hurt you, right little guy?" Raph asked as he gently pet the bird again. The other three turtles could have sworn they saw the pigeon make a happy face of some sort and it kind of freaked them out since they didn't know how a bird could really do this. They then watched carefully as Raph slowly put the head piece on the bird.  
"Alright little guy, spin around in a circle if you can understand what I'm telling you."  
Jaws dropped as the bird then hopped around in a circle on the turtles arm and then faced him once he was done doing so.  
"Ahhhh I knew it! Way to go little guy. Now I need your help alright? See all those lights up above? Those are from cameras and those cameras belong to men who want to hurt my brothers and me. You think you and your buddies can cover all those red dots for me?"  
The pigeon blinked a few times at Raph and then flew off.  
"Donnie start working on all the cameras that don't have red lights" Raph instructed.  
Donnie nodded his head and got to work as quickly as he could. He could hear his youngest brother 'ohhh' and 'whoa'-ing as hordes of pigeons circled around and blocked the view from the cameras with red lights, one by one making each one obsolete in a sense, and by the time they covered the last blinking camera Donnie had just finished messing with the last of the other various cameras and devices set up around headquarters.  
"Everything is done and we're free to move forward!"  
"Well, wasn't expecting that" Mikey said with wide eyes, still in shock from what he just saw his usually hot headed brother do. He continued to stare at his brother this way as the original pigeon returned to Raph's arm.  
"Raph, a few months ago there was an article about a large man who was spotted wondering around parks at night and being surrounded by animals, usually pigeons. Was that you?" Leo asked teasingly with a grin.  
"What I do in my spare time is my business, okay?" Raph said in a low tone as he heard his younger two brother's chuckle from behind him. He pet the bird and whispered "thanks little guy" as he carefully removed the head piece from the bird and then handed it to Donnie as the bird cooed and flew away. 

Now that all nearby cameras had been tampered with, the boys then ran across the street and got out their climbing claws as they began scaling the building next door to headquarters. After a few minutes they reached the top. It was a couple stories shorter than the headquarters building, so they launched their grappling hooks towards the roof of the taller building and once they each hooked onto a stable base the boys began climbing their way up. Mikey would have used his skateboard and glided up, but that could have been noisy and wasn't worth the risk, so this time he joined his brothers in taking the slower but safer way to travel.  
Once they reached the top of the headquarters building Leo spotted a vent that curved up and out. He silently lifted off the cover and looked down inside. It seemed to go straight down and eventually curve inward which meant that it lead to other vent ways they could climb through.  
"Alright guys, we don't know a whole lot about what's going on tonight. Because of this, we're going to travel around through the vents for a bit and try to gain some intel. Keep your phones SILENT, but still close so that we can communicate with each other in case we hear any important information. Ready?" Leo asked.  
The remaining three brothers nodded in agreement and once everyone had placed their shell cell in a safe and accessible spot, they each followed behind Leo as they leaped into and down through the vent tunnelway.

They expected to slow down towards the bottom (of course they wouldn't have just landed with a loud thud at the bottom of the drop) and use the sides of the vent to slow down, but when they put their arms out they felt nothing, and what was worse was that as they came closer to the bottom, the bottom never came. Leo thought he was about to come crashing down on the bottom of the vent, but instead he fell right through, and all his brothers continued to fall as well. After the turtles had finished crashing to the ground and were now finally able to notice their surroundings, they realized that they were standing in the middle of one of the hallways of the building with numerous Foot soldiers watching their every move.  
"You have got to be kidding me" Raph growled. He was mind blown by the fact that they had just entered the building and already they were hostages. How the heck had this even happened?!  
"Drop your weapons and we won't fight, for now at least" one of the numerous masked faces called out.  
Leo so badly didn't want to give in so soon, hell they had literally just got here, but he knew there were way too many soldiers for them to fight in this tiny little hallway. There wasn't really anything they could use to disperse, and a smoke bomb would lead to them jumping into another large group of soldiers. As much as he hated it, he knew that a momentary surrender was the safest move. Leo threw his weapons down onto the ground, and soon after his brothers followed his actions. The soldiers then forced their hostages to get on their knees with their hands behind their backs as the turtles were handcuffed with electronic cuffs. Too much movement caused them to send a nonlife threatening but still uncomfortable shock throughout the victim's body and they were extremely uncomfortable to begin with. There were no chains since the middle part was solid and stretched from one hand to the other. The boys were then told to stand up as they were lead to a cell nearby. 4 soldiers stayed with the turtles and continued to give commands as the turtles were forced to kneel on the ground and wait patiently for what was to come next. The turtles kneeled in a line within the cell with Mikey towards the far left wall, Leo next to him, Raph next to him, and then Donnie on the end near the right wall. They were placed on the right side of the room which left the entire left and middle sections of the room wide open.  
It wasn't much longer until the door opened once again. Two people entered the room at that time: the first was Karai who looked more pissed off than ever, and the second was Sam. The turtles fought to remain calm when they saw the girl enter the room right behind their enemy. They didn't want to show any emotion and this somehow get Sam in trouble, and they hoped that that was why Sam seemed to bear the exact same expression on her face as she entered the room.  
Karai stepped to the side as she began to talk to and question Sam.  
"Explain this" Karai barked, arms crossed over her chest as she nodded down towards the turtles.  
"…explain what?" Sam asked in an unconcerned tone.  
"Why are they here?" Karai asked, her tone getting harsher and harsher as the two conversed.  
"I don't know" Sam groaned. "I'm not the last one who spoke to them."  
"You're the second to last from what we know of."  
"So ask the last guy."  
"We can't find the last guy."  
"Well it's not my fault you suck at your job" Sam said in a derogatory manner.  
As Sam spoke she made sure to look everywhere that wasn't at the turtles. She faced Karai, rolled her eyes and looked up at the ceiling, groaned and would look down at the floor, anywhere that would cut off her eye sight from the turtles. One good look at them would instantly throw off her tough act and her emotions would kick in and ruin everything she had built herself up to handle.  
"Regardless," Karai began, "Sensei will not be pleased with this and you will be the one to blame. You're lucky that our scientists were able to create the hologram device that tricked them into falling from the vents."  
This explained what the heck happened moments ago and why the turtles had gone from sneaky and strategic to free falling and becoming hostages.  
"Funny. You take technology that isn't yours and know where that is, but you can't locate one man. The Foot really need to get their priorities straight" Sam mocked.  
"ENOUGH! Are you on our side or not?"  
"Duh" Sam said bluntly, rolling her hand in front of her as if she was confused as to how the woman could ask her such a thing.  
"Prove it" Karai demanded.  
Sam rolled her eyes as she turned around and took a step backwards towards Raph. Before anyone could react, Sam's eyes went blue and black as she kicked her leg back and used her heel to jab Raphael in the side where the skin between his shell and plastron was located. He hunched over to his side a bit and fought not to make a big deal out of the hit, but he couldn't help but let out a short and low volume groan. This was one of the most sensitive spots on both his and all of his brother's bodies and even though the pain would subside after a couple of minutes it still stung like hell right now. Sam immediately took a step away from Raph as soon as she landed the kick. Karai nodded in approval at Sam's annoyed face that was made to question whether her actions were good enough.  
The turtles all looked at Sam and each hoped that this was all still part of her plan to fool Shredder into thinking she was truly on her side. They could tell by the way that she spoke that she definitely did not like Karai (then again, who did?) but that wasn't enough to convince them that she was truly on their side and putting on a show for the others like Jay had told them.  
Karai grew a small but devilish smile on her face. "Perfect! Since you're still working with us to rid the world of the turtles, then you won't have any problems watching us test one of our new weapons on them."  
Karai then signaled for one of the soldiers to come forward. In the masked man's hand was a whip, but before he could do anything Sam slapped the weapon out of his hands. Karai's first reaction was to go for her sword, but Sam instantly calmed her down.  
"Oh relax! Your daddy gave me clearance to be the one to take them out, so that's what I'm going to do. Jeez" Sam stated.  
Karai glared at her. "Do not diminish the role of the Shredder with such childish terms."  
"Okay, okay. I'm sorry for not referring to him as the great and almighty Shredder, alright?" Sam mocked.  
Karai rolled her eyes. "Just hurry up. Attack the blue one first since he's the leader."  
"Eh, nahhh" Sam said.  
"NO?" Karai furiously asked.  
"I'll take the orange one. He's the youngest and they can't stand to see him get hurt." Sam emphasized the last few words of her sentence as she then turned around and practiced cracking the whip forward towards the side of the room that was empty. This revealed that the weapon was actually an electric whip. Sparks flew from the whip as it smacked against the far opposite wall. The whip was so powerful that Sam had to grab onto her right arm as her hand tightly gripped the handle so that it wouldn't go flying out of her hands.  
Karai nodded, stating her approval of what the younger girl had said. She took a few steps back and waited for Sam to complete the deed.  
Sam walked over and stood in front of Michelangelo. From the time she had entered the room, this was the first time that she had actually looked at any of the turtles. She faced Mikey and looked him straight in the eyes. She wasn't expecting it, but he had already been doing just that by the time she had turned her head to look at him. His sight was already in line with where hers would be, and now that she was standing in place, the two were unintentionally glaring at each other. No one knew it, and maybe the other hadn't either, but their glares were supposed to signal to the other that they wanted trust/were trusting the other.  
Sam finally took a step forward and cracked the whip. The tip of the weapon was aimed perfectly so that it would nail Mikey right between the eyes, but the final blow never came. Within a split second of the whip being cracked it had somehow become frozen. The end of the whip, almost just touching Mikey's face, was frozen solid and was no longer usable as it stayed still in one position, no longer able to move now that it was covered in ice from the tip of the whip all the way down to the handle grips right under Sam's fingers. The entire time this was happening Sam and Mikey had never broken eye contact. The two were still glaring each other down, one set of eyes staring directly into the other, and it would have stayed this way if Karai hadn't interrupted them.  
"WHAT HAPPENED?!" Karai shouted.  
Sam finally broke eye contact as her serious gaze quickly transformed into a dull stare as she now faced Karai. "I don't know" she groaned, her voice filled with an immature attitude. "It was probably another interference from the human trials from my first day here. Sometimes the mutagen from day one comes back and randomly malfunctions" Sam said with a shrug of her shoulders. Her posture gave off an obvious 'I don't care' type attitude, and Karai picked up on this instantly.  
"Sensei will be quite displeased once he hears of this, are you ready to face that type of punishment again?" Karai growled as she glared at the younger woman.  
"Geez Karai, you really need to learn to control your temper" Sam said as she crossed her arms and shook her head in a way as to mock the other woman.  
"Some people tell me I have a short temper, but I prefer to call it a swift and assertive reaction to BULLSHIT."  
"Sorry but giving a fuck doesn't go with my outfit" Sam said with a shrug. It was obvious she was dodging Karai's threats, but her tactic did work at re-directing Karai away from her suspicions of Sam helping the turtles on purpose.  
Over time, Karai had gotten better at reacting to Sam with her own sarcastic and nasty remarks since this was really the only way the two really knew how to communicate with each other. "Look, I don't have the energy to pretend to like you today. So leave, since nothing brightens up a room like your absence" the older woman said with a wicked smile.  
"It's okay, not everybody has to like me, I can't force you to have good taste."  
"I saw a piece of shit on the ground today, it reminded me of you."  
"If you listen closely then you can hear me not caring."  
"I would slap you but shit splatters. God, if you ran like your mouth than you'd be in much better shape."  
"Oh please, you only have one advantage over me: that you can kiss my ass and I can't."  
Karai shook her head. "It's so disappointing that your sarcastic remarks are the only thing you have going for you."  
"Well hey, I do love sarcasm! It's like punching people in the face but with words."  
"Hmph, well they do say that actions speak louder than words."  
And with that Karai lunged towards Sam. Of course Sam had been expecting this at any time since this was her plan from the beginning. Karai's suspicions of Sam's loyalty to the Foot grew after she protected Mikey, so Sam purposefully had tried to annoy and argue with Karai to the point that she forgot about those suspicions and became more focused on a physical conflict. Sam also knew that Karai would be flustered if she lost and would leave the room either with or without Sam, and this was the goal that Sam was aiming for.  
The boys sat in silence as they tried not to react as they saw the two women fight each other. Each turtle wanted to jump in and help their friend so bad, but they trusted that this was part of her plan and any sign of emotion would ruin whatever tricks Sam had hiding up her sleeve.  
The other four Foot soldiers just stood there as well. They had their weapons in hand and seemed ready to strike at any moment, but the two women moved so fast around the room that they didn't want to risk the chance of hurting their master, so they too sat on the sidelines behind the turtles and watched. After a couple of minutes or so the dual finally came to an end with Karai holding a kunai knife right by Sam's neck.  
"Any last words?" Karai asked viciously with a devilish grin.  
Sam looked up the woman with the exact same expression and tone of voice. "It's a shame you never got that crack in your armor fixed" Sam replied.  
Karai's grin quickly faded as she realized what was happening. 

It took the turtles a second to understand as well. They looked closely until they saw where Sam's left hand was. She was also holding a kunai knife but this time the blade was pointing towards the lower right half of Karai's abdomen. From afar it looked as if Sam was aiming straight for the woman's armor, which wouldn't have made sense since it would have required a huge amount of strength to pierce the knife through that barrier, and even though Sam now had the strength to possibly do such a thing, her hand was too close to its target to create the force and momentum to complete that objective. However, a closer up point of view showed that there was a crack in Karai's armor that was large enough for the knife to fit. Sam had proven that she had studied her target well, and Karai knew that at this moment she and her opponent were now both evenly matched. She nodded her head and then Sam did the same as the two both backed away from each other. Of course, Karai couldn't just leave without getting her message across, so she quickly threw a punch at Sam's cheek before the space between them grew too large. Sam could easily have dodged the punch, but that would defeat the purpose of all she had done. Her objective was to make Karai leave the room and dodging the punch and therefore continuing the fight would have been the opposite of her objective, so she allowed Karai to follow through with her attack. Sam had experienced physical pains ten times greater than this one, but in the moment it still stung like hell.  
The punch was so swift and solid that it made Sam's entire body turn with it. She was able to keep her balance and prevent herself from falling to the floor, but her body was now turned towards Mikey, and if her eyes were open, she would have been looking right at him. Sam knew this and fought to keep her eyes closed as she slowly turned back towards Karai. She refused to open her eyes until she was finally standing forward and tall once again. 

As Sam opened her eyes she saw Karai glaring at her once again.  
"We have waited a long time for this night, and I will not allow you to be the reason that we all lose everything that we have worked for, what our master has worked for. You wear the uniform that many for centuries have dedicated their lives to, so HONOR IT. If you continue to screw things up for us then we'll make sure you live, but you'll see everybody else parish, all thanks to your antics. That's what happened to all your siblings, remember? Your brother couldn't listen, so we had to put him in his place. Don't think it won't happen again." Karai waited for a response, but Sam just stood there and glared back at her. This signaled to Karai that she had struck a nerve and that the younger female was going to remain silent rather than fight back. Karai then turned toward the four soldiers. "Watch over her and the hostages. Don't let any of them leave this room. We have a busy night tonight and these five will be the most likely ones to ruin everything we've worked for, so guard them with your lives." These were her last words before she turned around and walked out of the room. 

There were only a few seconds of silence left in the room until it was interrupted by a scratchy voice saying '_ALL CLEAR_'. Suddenly, two of the soldiers quickly knocked out the other two as Sam ran up, and with her eyes quickly turning blue, jumped up and yanked down a vent cover on the ceiling. The two conscious soldiers behind the turtles removed their masks as four more boys leaped down from the vent ways above.  
"Whew, well that was dramatic" said one of the now mask-less faces. The turtles quickly turned their heads back and forth as they recognized some of the faces in front of and behind them. The face that had just spoke was from an Asian boy that they remembered as Key, and the Asian boy next to him was Kris. The turtles remembered these two from Sam's soccer games that they had watched, and from those they also recognized Nathan, the white skinned and brown haired boy who was one of the four who had jumped down from the vent. The remaining three boys didn't look familiar. The first boy had black skin with short black hair, the second boy had light tan skin with brown and black colored hair that was pushed back off his forehead and Asian facial features, and the third boy had white skin with orange and brown colored hair that was also pushed back of his forehead. These four quickly ran behind the turtles and started fidgeting around with the locks on their arms as the two who were dressed as soldiers ran and were now guarding the door.  
"Yeah but it was all necessary for the plan" Sam replied.  
"And that was?" asked Kris.  
"To get Karai to ignore her suspicions of my loyalty to the Foot and to leave the room" she said as she rubbed her cheek and her jaw, the stinging coming back from her talking and using the punched area.  
"Ahhh so that's why you let her punch you. She would have kept fighting if you dodged her" said the tallest and lightest skinned boy.  
"Yes! Thank you rad Brad!" Sam said as she pointed her finger towards the boy and smiled. The turtles tried to take in the names and faces of these supposed allies in case this info would be needed later for whatever reason.  
"Alright," Sam began, "someone give me a run-down of what's going on-nghh." Sam quickly grabbed her wrist, instantly grabbing everyone in the room's attention.  
The boy with black skin and shorter hair ran over and looked at Sam's arm.  
"Is this from the mutagen?" he asked.  
"Yeah, I lied about the human trials. I took a sample from the wrist compartment of my sleeve, you know my most recent addition" she said as she showed him a round section that traveled all the way around her wrist, "I've basically saved small doses of all different types of mutagen that my body can handle and have stored them here and obviously this time I used one that could freeze other objects."  
"Let me see the sample" the boy said as he opened his hand in front of her.  
Sam opened up the compartment on her sleeve and handed the boy a small vile of a light blue colored mutagen.  
"How many of these did you take?" he asked.  
"Three" she mumbled.  
The boy leaned his head back in frustration. "Geez Sam you have got to be more careful. You were with me when we studied this type and you know that larger doses can be extremely dangerous!"  
"Okay Josh I get it" Sam said as she rolled her eyes, still holding her right arm. "Look I had to be extra cautious this time and I needed to take precaution in knowing that it would work quickly when I needed it to, okay?" Sam then looked towards the ground as a slight blush came across her face. All four brothers looked at the new face of the boy that was talking to Sam, but this was only to hide that they had all noticed this blush that quickly spread along the girls face.  
"Kevin do you know how long this should affect her?" Josh said as he turned towards the lightly tan skinned boy.  
"About 5 minutes max since she was a match for that mutagen" Kevin replied.  
"Alright then," Sam cut in, "then I'm going to disappear for those five minutes until I can feel my arm again."  
"Sam wait-" Mikey said.  
"Make sure you help these four out-" Sam said as she began to turn away.  
"Sam wait up!"  
"-and give them a run-down of what they don't already know." Sam had now reached the doorway and slammed the door shut as Mikey had just been released from his electronic handcuffs and had just rushed over to where she was standing, but not in time to catch her before she left and was now on the other side of the closed door.  
"Sam, Sam!" he said as he banged on the door.  
"Sorry man, she can't hear you. These rooms are sound proof" Josh said with a sorrowful expression.  
By this time all the handcuffs had been unlocked and the brothers were now standing on their own, rubbing their wrists which had been bound for so long now.  
Kris and Key walked back over to the guys as they began pulling weapons from the back packs that were secured tightly behind them.  
"I believe these are yours" Key said with a smile as he handed Raph and Mikey their weapons while Kris handed Leo and Donnie theirs.  
"Thank you" Leo said with a nod. "Now can you guys please update us on what is going on?"  
Kris then took the floor as everyone listened patiently.  
"It's about 8:15 now which means that Dragons and soldiers have been leading any and all non-fighters, so doctors, scientists, anyone whose job doesn't involve them to fight in anyway, they're all being locked up in cells similar to this one as we speak. The majority of the Dragons and Foot soldiers will be on the bottom floors getting their weapons set up and guarding the Mutanimals-"  
"Wait I thought we helped free those guys!" Raph confusedly cut in.  
Kris gave him an unfortunate expression. "Sadly Shredder had more soldiers from Japan coming in that night. The plan you all set up was genius, but the night just happened to be extremely unlucky."  
"I bet they paid for that" Leo said with his eyes closed tight, trying to fight off any painful images of what the other mutants had to deal with after their attempted escape. 

Kris sent him a small smile. "Don't worry, they're tough, every single one of them. And if you really want to help them then you'll help set them free again tonight. Right now they're all wearing collars around their necks that can harm them in various ways if they don't listen to the soldiers and the Dragons. The Mutanimals are going to be forced into destroying the city along with their masters as part of Shredder's plan. Meanwhile, select soldiers will be on lookout positions and guard the cells while the rest of the clan is attacking the city. Those loyal soldiers will be attacked by our rebel soldiers who will then set up devices along the lock boxes outside each cell door. Multiple scientists who are being locked away have devices that will detonate those devices so that they destroy the lock boxes and unlock the doors. They will also be deactivating the collars so that when the time comes the Mutanimals will aid the rebel soldiers in fighting and distracting the loyal soldiers. The rebel lookout soldiers will then help guide the non-fighters through the secret paths we've been working on for months now. We have stairwells, tunnel and vent ways above and below each floor, secret doors, all types of things we've been setting up for quick escapes. All the fighters on the lower floors will do what they can to weaken and fight off the loyal soldiers and those fighters will escape when they can. 

Just then, a scratchy female voice suddenly started talking. _"Attention, attention! We just overheard that in two minutes Shredder will be sending out a message that ALL soldiers and Dragons will be told to report to the bottom floors. I repeat ALL soldiers are going to be told to report to the bottom floors. From what we non-fighters have seen and have overheard, it sounds like Shredder is onto something since he knows the turtles are here. Everyone needs to PROCEED WITH CAUTION."  
_

"Ughhhhhhh" all the human boys groaned.  
"Who was that?" Mikey asked.  
"That was our friend Lindsey, aka one of the people who has access to the collars and to the explosive devices" Nate said. "We were going to send so many rebels to knock out the loyals and then those rebels would place the devices on the lock boxes, but if Shredder is calling down EVERYONE way earlier than expected, then 1. We don't have enough time to set things up before he realizes his soldiers are missing, and 2. Now there won't be anyone up here in general to attach the devices without being seen."  
"Well I guess that's where we come in" Raph said with a smile.  
All the boys wide eyes were now facing Raph.  
"You…you guys would do that for us?" Key asked, a bit taken aback.  
Leo smiled as he walked over towards the teen boy. "That's one of the reasons were here. To get Sam and to help free you guys. That's what Jay told us and that's what we're going to do" he said with a nod.  
Key couldn't keep from smiling the huge teeth filled smile that stretched from one side of his face to the other. He then put his hand out for a handshake in front of Leo.  
"Thank you, you guys have no idea how many hundreds of thousands of people will be indebted to you after tonight."  
Leo shook the boys hand and the conversation continued as to what would happen that night. 

This time Josh took charge as he began going over the game plan. "Alright, you guys are going to follow us as we take you to one of our labs on the top floor. There we'll give you guys the bags with all the devices, don't worry they're not that big they're probably about the size of your palm. You're going to start placing them on the lock boxes throughout the 5th through 12th floors. Like Kris said earlier, the collars on the Mutanimals will also be deactivated around the same time so not to many soldiers should be able to head your way, but if any get by we'll try to send as many guys as we can up your way to help you out. One of our main goals is to prevent any Foot soldiers or Purple Dragons from leaving this building because that's how they'll start bringing the city to its knees, by using those mutagen weapons. That will be our main priority, but don't worry we won't leave you hanging either we promise. We need to move now though so that we stay on schedule so any questions or comments will be answered once we get to the lab." 

The turtles nodded and the human teens nodded back. This time the boy known as Brad led the way. He put on a pair of tech goggles and right after he jumped back up to the vent that the boys used to enter the room in the first place.  
"What are those for?" Mikey asked in excitement after seeing the super cool looking goggles.  
Josh, Nate, and Kevin went to speak, but Donnie beat them to it.  
"In simple terms they prevent us from falling into traps like the one we literally fell into earlier."  
The three boys nodded in approval at the fact that their new companion must have known a good amount about the device in order to make such an accurate statement, and then they cringed as they remembered hearing about how the turtles were captured not much earlier that evening.  
"Sorry about that" the three said in unison.  
"Don't worry, luckily you guys had our back from the beginning being up in the vents and in the room with us the whole time" Donnie reassured.  
"That was the original plan, but Sam was the one that contacted us through the walkie talkies and told us to hang tight and let her handle it" Nate stated.

"Guys, let's go!" Leo shouted from the vent above. With that, everyone in the room was now crawling through the vent ways. They twisted and turned and climbed up and slid down until eventually they were led to a stairwell. It seemed sturdy, but definitely dusty and unused. After a few more minutes the group stopped at the top of the stairwell as it completely stopped in the middle of a wall. Brad adjusted his goggles as he stared at the wall while the other human boys all put their ears up against the wall, listening closely. After a couple more minutes had passed by, Brad nodded to the boys as the all carefully pushed on the wall. A space about three feet long and six feet high slowly began to open as the boys pushed forward and slid the cover to the side. They then entered the space as they walked into the laboratory.  
Kevin walked over towards the far wall and grabbed a large rolled up sheet of paper off the top of a cabinet along with three large brown sacks. "Here," he said as he gave the sheet and the sacks to Donnie, knowing that he would instantly start looking over and examining the sheet and the devices within the bags, which was exactly what he was doing now, "these are the devices that you will place on each lock box and this is a map with the entire layout of the building PLUS all our secret spaces. Use this to guide you through the 5th to 12th floors in case you need to hide or escape or anything to protect yourselves."  
Leo didn't not trust the group, but he was curious as to some of their actions. "Hey, how come you handed all that to him?"  
Kevin paused. "Oh sorry, you're the leader so I guess I should have handed all the materials to you. My bad man I just know he's the brains of your team so I-"  
"How do you know all of that?" Leo asked.  
"A lot of us have known about you guys for a while now after the incident at the Sachs Estate months ago. We also know about the soldiers breaking into and destroying your home."  
"Did you guys have to do with that?" Raph asked, growing a bit concerned.  
"Luckily no, we were all working on different missions at that time, but everyone in the clan knew about those events. We were all told to be on alert for you guys, that kind of thing."  
"So what happens when hundreds of thousands of people who know about our existence are set free?" Donnie asked. 

Kris took the floor, acting as a momentary leader. "Don't worry, these people have been waiting for years for a chance to escape from the clan. I'm sure you know about Sam's reasons for joining, right?" The turtles nodded in response. "More than half the people here joined for reasons like those, hell that's the reason that I'm here! We didn't ask for this, but we are asking for a chance to escape and go back to the way our lives used to be. Sadly there are some people here who don't even know what that life was because their entire lives have been here. People of all kinds from all backgrounds have been forced to join the Foot for whatever reason Shredder deemed fit, so if you help them live freely again, they would never ever expose you guys. Trust me, if something crazy like that ever happened then it would easily come out among the survivors who was dumb enough to leak info about your existence. So many people are already fans of you guys after the way you fought Shredder on top of the Sachs lab building and they'll do anything they can to protect and support you guys now. Also, a lot of people have come to love the Mutanimals, so they'd be extreme hypocrites if they protected them and then leaked info on you guys. Just trust me when I say that no one will expose you guys to the public. Okay?" Kris asked, hoping that he had pleaded a reasonable enough case to get the turtles to trust and believe the honest words that he had said. 

The turtles all looked at each other and then looked at Mikey. They knew that he had the purest heart of their family and left it in his hands whether or not they should trust what the boy had just told them.  
Mikey kept a serious expression on his face, but he nodded his head. "I believe him. They were right behind Sam after she protected us from Karai, and if she trusts them then so should we. If he says that the rebels are on our side then we need to give them a chance. If we can't give them a chance then how can we ever hope for humans to accept our existence in return?"  
The three older brothers smiled at their baby brother. He was a complete doofus 99% of the time, but then he had his rare moments like this when he truly got his act together and was able to make such clear and well thought out decisions. How this came from the same person the three would never know.  
"Speaking of which," Mikey started again, "where is Sam? What will she be doing? When do we get to talk to her?"  
That's when the smiling faces of the human boys soon turned into ones of sorrow and frustration.  
Kris put his hand on Mikey's shoulder as he spoke. "Look, you have to listen to everything I have to say before you jump to conclusions, okay?"  
Mikey nodded and Kris gave him a reassuring smile as he pat his shoulder and brought his arm back. 

"Sam has been training as a right hand man for Shredder so that he would truly believe that she was a loyal soldier for his clan. Because of that, she should be right by his side tonight and will be doing her best to distract him from the chaotic events going on around him when his plans get all messed up. If Shredder is distracted then leaders like Karai, Tatsu, Sachs, and Hun will have to rapidly be giving orders over top of each other which will continue to screw things up for the clan even more and will also make it easier for us to take them down. This also means that Sam will probably be the one to fight Shredder throughout the night, but thanks to her skills and her devices, she's literally the best one for the job. Of all the rebel soldiers she's definitely one of the best in the business and is the perfect person for this job. Once the Mutanimals have helped knock out a lot of the loyal soldiers and helped destroy their weapons, they will rush to help Sam out as well. Her goal is to keep Shredder near the top of the building so that she can try to knock him off. If Shredder comes crashing down to the ground from the 15th floor then this time he'll fall to his doom. His armor from last time was destroyed and even if for whatever reason he has a trick up his sleeve that keeps him alive, there won't be anyone around to save him and bring him home for medical treatment."  
"Sorry I know this isn't the time for these questions, but how did Sam become the perfect person for all this?" Leo asked.  
"About a month or so before she joined us, someone spotted a girl running around with you guys and one of our new objectives was to study the subject. None of us knew it at the time, but that girl ended up being Sam. When she followed Jay here on her first night she basically offered herself for human trials to Shredder to prove that she wanted to join the Foot clan. She then trained with us and quickly rose up in the ranks. Then there was the night you guys caught her. Shredder obviously wasn't happy about that and he began losing trust in her, so she offered herself up to him again and basically begged him to train her so that she could hunt and kill you guys herself. She knew that she would never actually do that, but she had to do whatever it took to keep you, Jay, and everyone else safe, so she did what needed to be done to earn his trust. Trust me no one likes that she's in this position, but she has incredible skills to begin with, she knows a lot about different mutagens she can combine with the sleeve device that she built, and she's been with Shredder side by side for a few weeks now, so she literally is the best person amongst the rebels to fight him."  
Leo nodded his head. "Sorry to ask, just-"  
"Don't worry about it. Sam wasn't the only one who was put in a tough situation. You all went through some tough and crazy shit in how all this was handled and we get that. None of this is easy and some people's lives have been toyed with in much worse ways because of the Foot clan. Sadly you guys are just four more names to the list of victims who have been hurt by the Foot" Kris said in a sympathetic tone.  
"Nice to know you're the guys she's been hanging with then" Leo said kindly.  
"Oh trust me there's a lot of us, but all that's for another time. We need to go soon and be ready for when Shredder sends that message for all soldiers to meet. I'd advise starting on the lower floors so that those guys can escape quicker than the ones who are closer to the top of the building."  
"Alright, we'll do everything that we can to assist you guys" Leo reassured.  
"Here take this" Brad said as he handed each turtle an old looking walkie talkie.  
"Are you sure these will work?" Raph asked. "They look pretty worn down."  
"Well that's the point" Donnie cut in, "this stuff is so ancient that it would be more difficult to detect the signals and intercept the messages being sent back and forth. There are courses that teach you how to intercept and disconnect conversations through newer devices, but not on how to handle devices as old as these."  
"He's good, we need to find him and talk to him more one day" Brad said as the other nerds of the group agreed, which also got a smile from the surprisingly bashful Donatello.  
"Alright, it's time for our groups to split up. Be careful and good luck to you four" Kris said.  
"Same to you guys. Update your group if you can and we'll do everything we can to get those devices in place."  
"Lindsey, aka the voice from earlier, she'll let you know when the devices are being set off, and then updates will be sent from then on as to what's going on.  
Everyone nodded in agreement and the two groups split up, each getting ready to complete their own mission. 

***About 8:30p.m.*  
**

The turtles were hiding out in the unused stairwell as they waited for the call to come in that they could start placing the devices along the lock boxes. They were waiting on the 5th floor of the staircase so that it would be quicker for these hostages to escape compared to those who would have to run, climb, or whatever they needed to do down to escape the building. Donnie was sitting on the steps as he got out a rewired GPD device and began setting it up so that he could use it to take care of any cameras that were detected within each hallway.  
_*click, click, click*  
_Kris had mentioned before they left that they wouldn't be able to actually talk into their walkie talkie's since that would be a dead giveaway in the crowded room down below filled with Foot Soldiers what they were scheming, so instead the boys would just click the button to their walkie talkie three times exactly to signal when it was safe to start placing the devices on the lock boxes.  
Now that the turtles has been given their signal they set out to complete their mission. They slowly and quietly opened the door as they filed out into the hallway. Donnie led the way so that he could use his GPD device to detect any cameras within each hallway. He pulled up the pages he used to detect various types of hidden cameras and once he believed he had altered each one, he waved his brothers on to place the devices on the lock boxes. Leo, Raph, and Mikey ran down the hallway as they took a small device from each sack and placed it on top of each lock box that they ran past. There were five cells on the 5th floor so it didn't take long to complete the task once the cameras had been altered, and that quickly the four turtles were able to move onto the next floor.  
Overall this ran pretty smoothly. The group followed this pattern on the 6th through 11th floors until they then received an actual call from Kris across the walkie talkie's.  
_"Hey guys just a quick heads up, Sachs apparently was sitting in a safe space somewhere and detected the cameras had been changed. He contacted Shredder and to keep things short, soldiers will be heading your way very soon. The battle down here started not too long ago and it's pretty chaotic, but we're going to try and send rebels your way as soon as we can. Oh, and apparently Sachs has some of the older Mutanimals with him, another sign that Shredder was probably onto something. From what we've seen all the collars have been disabled, but we don't know if Sachs or Shredder have anything they're hiding up their sleeves, so if you come across them then please try to act cautiously since if the mutants attack for any reason then I guarantee it's not because they want to, it's against their will. Be careful and hopefully we'll see you soon."  
_

"Alright guys, we need to be careful from now on. We'll try to do what we can on this next floor, but be prepared to fight at any moment" Leo stated.  
The boys used the secret staircase as they made their way up to the final floor for their mission. They weren't sure if the devices had detonated yet and if the non-fighters were being set free, but they knew that they had to keep planting these devices in their given locations in order for those innocent lives to be set free at some point throughout the night. They reached the next floor and this time all four brothers ran to try and plant devices on the lock boxes since Donnie no longer needed to alter the cameras since they had already been caught. Just as the last device was placed on the box, the sound of footsteps grew louder and louder from one of the main stairwells nearby.  
"We can't use any of the secret passageways since that will lead them to the escapees, we need to find somewhere to hide and fight, now!" Donnie exclaimed.  
"Is there anywhere nearby on the map?" Leo asked.  
Donnie tried examining the map as quickly as he could.  
"There's some space towards the top floor that we could use to distract-"  
Just as Donnie finished saying this, a large group of Foot soldiers came running down from the opposite side of the hallway.  
"Donnie…" Leo began.  
"Got it! I know this map inside and out, so follow me!" 

The tallest of the brothers sped off as he led the way out of that hallway and towards one of the main staircases. Instead of running up the staircase all the way to the 15th floor, the turtles grabbed onto the rails where they curved and each quickly swung themselves up until they had reached the highest part of the staircase. This bought them a few minutes to spare as they waited for the soldiers to run up and chase after them.  
"In order to buy more time then we need to split up. This stairwell is in the middle of the building which means that outside this door are four hallways, so each of the four of us is going to run off and fight off as many of them as possible alone."  
The brothers all nodded to each other as they quickly dispersed. Soldiers were now flooding the stairwell and within seconds of the brothers dispersing the soldiers were now storming down the hallways after them.  
Donnie had sprinted towards the hall leading behind the staircase and took off. He could hear the sounds of footsteps growing closer and closer to where he was standing which meant that he would have to act quickly. He quickly turned his head and was shocked to see how far back the soldiers actually were, and to take advantage of this he started the fight off by launching shuriken stars back at the soldiers. It didn't do much but it slowed them down a little bit more. Donnie then made a right and continued to run. He figured that there was a 50/50 chance he might be running into Raph soon if he had made two left turns after leaving the staircase, and this thought was soon confirmed as Donnie could hear the sound of his brother grunting as came up on another corner where he would be turning right.  
"Raph!" Donnie called out, signaling to his brother that he was nearby as he rounded the corner. 

The two were now running towards each other as Raph yelled for his brother to go up. Donnie nodded as he leapt upwards but pulled his bo staff out and let it hang down. Raph grabbed on and swung it so that it launched Donnie towards the soldiers who had been closing in on Raph. Donatello successfully knocked out the first four soldiers who had been running towards them and he quickly jumped back to his feet as he swung his bo as another three soldiers came running at him. His bo connected with each sword that was swung at him, blocking each swift attack that was aimed at him. He waited for the right moment and used his weapon to push back the other three. He then jumped up and kicked both of his legs outwards in a split position, kicking both soldiers at his sides and knocking them down as he did so. This just left the last soldier in front of him. The two continued on with their battle as the soldier pulled out a second sword and quickly swung both blades towards Donnie. Donnie was careful in how he held his bo as he blocked the man's attacks until finally he held his weapon horizontally and waited for the man to bring both blades down at the same time. Donnie caught them with his bo staff and then shoved the man's blades upwards as he then kicked the man's leg. As the man came tumbling down, Donnie then swung his bo so that it whacked the man's forehead and knocked him out cold.  
"Nice shot" Raph said as he jogged over and stood next to his brother now that he was done fighting his own small group of soldiers. That was what confused Donatello at the moment.  
"How many soldiers did you just fight?" Donnie asked.  
"Five, why?"  
"I only fought three after knocking out four, so a total of seven."  
"So what's the problem?"  
"There should be way more than that. There was a large group of soldiers running up that staircase, so where are they now?"  
Just then Mikey came up from the left and Leo came up from the right.  
"Are any soldiers following you two?" Donnie asked as he and Raph got their weapons ready to fight.  
Both Mikey and Leo stood there confused.  
"Dudes, only like four soldiers followed me around and knocking them out was a piece of cake" Mikey stated.  
"Same, I assumed the majority were following you two" Leo said as he carefully walked over towards his brothers, never letting his guard down.  
"Wait, so no one is being followed right now? After all those people we saw we're all alone now?" Raph asked.  
"They must be waiting for us somewhere. They're planning something, and right now they're probably waiting for us. They knew that we would have kept running around in circles, well technically in a square since the building is in the shape of-"  
"Get on with it!" Raph urged.  
"Right, hehe. If we were to just keep running around and around, they would start finding ways to corner us into wherever they would want us to go. Guys, did any of the soldiers ever try to keep you against the walls, or try to knock you into a side room or anything?" Donnie asked.  
The boys all shook their heads.  
"How about this, did they just continue to chase you in a line, and possibly turn you around when you began going straight for too long?"  
Raph continued to shake his head, but Leo and Mikey were now nodding.  
"What's the point?" Raph asked impatiently.  
"They're not trying to push us out and corner us in the hallways, they're trying to get us to go inwards. They wanted to block our paths so that we couldn't keep running around the outside of the building, they want us to head inwards where this large room is" he said as he pointed to a large open space on the map. "Why they want us to go here, that I don't know."  
"If we know this, do you think we should head straight in?" Raph asked.  
Leo paused before he spoke. "Normally I would say no, but if we wait too long then the soldiers might head back downstairs, and we can't let that happen. We'll slowly head into the center room and we'll go from there."  
The brothers nodded as they slowly and quietly walked through the hallways. Not long after, soldiers from three of the four sides came rushing at them. The turtles darted through the hallways as they made their way towards the large room. It was dark inside, but as soon as the turtles stepped foot into the room, the lights suddenly came on. The turtles came to a halt as all the doors in the room shut and soldiers came flying down from a walkway that ran around the upper half of the room. Within seconds there were soldiers on every side of the room as they gathered around the turtles who were now forced against the wall.  
"Well, looks like we found out why they wanted us in this room" Raph groaned.  
All four turtles had their weapons out and ready for whatever came next, but they definitely weren't expecting what did happen.  
With almost perfect timing someone had leaped down from the walkway above and landed directly in front of the turtles. They were wearing black, but the guys knew that she was on their side as they now stood facing the back of Sam as she kneeled sideways in front of them, wondering how this next event would play out. 

***Earlier that evening, Sam P.O.V.*  
**

Sam ran and hid inside a small office as she fought to control her breathing. At this point she couldn't really feel the pain in her arm anymore since she was so distracted by everything that had just happened. How had the turtles even known about tonight? She had lied to them and did everything she could to push them away, so why were they here?! She then remembered that the other night her older brother had a small mission to take care of and she wondered if he had anything to do with it.  
"Damnit Jay" Sam whispered to herself.  
Thoughts were running all throughout her head as she wondered what the turtles thought of her after the stunt she had just pulled moments ago. She didn't know what information they were given before they had arrived and she was afraid to find out, but depending on what they did and didn't know could have made the entire situation either better or worse. She assumed that they knew all the key details since they hadn't really reacted when they saw her enter the room. A small smile appeared on the girl's face as she realized that the turtles not reacting probably meant that they knew she was on their side and that in order to protect her act then they needed to do whatever it took to trick Karai into thinking they felt nothing towards her, hence them not reacting to her entrance. This momentarily put Sam at ease…until she realized that she had kicked Raph in one of their most sensitive spots. Sam cringed as she remembered this and the motion made her arm hurt a bit more. 

She grabbed her throbbing arm as she slowly slid down and sat against the wall behind her. It terrified her to think of how Raph now thought of her. She would have been lucky if he had forgiven her in any way after all she had done to him, and if he had been generous to even reach that mindset, would he truly forgive her now after she had hurt him AGAIN?! Would any of the others think the same way now?  
That's when she thought back to how Mikey had looked at her, the way he had never broken eye contact with her. Sam went from grabbing onto her hurting arm to then grabbing onto her shirt in front of her chest. Her heart was pounding as she thought back to when she cracked the whip in front of Mikey. Again, thoughts were soaring around in her head. The first main thought was of how he had trusted her. He knew she would choose him so that he would stay calm because he knew she could only 110% trust him. He had known she wanted his trust and he had given it to her, but that's what brought on the second main thought. What if she had messed up? What if she hadn't used a high enough dosage of the mutagen and the whip didn't freeze in time, or even at all? What if she had hurt Mikey?  
Sam hadn't realized that her arm was feeling better as she now brought her knees up to her chest and as her hands grabbed onto the side of her head as she now rocked back and forth.  
"Calm down, calm down, calm down, calm down" she said over and over again to herself. As much as she dreaded when she would have to face the turtles again, she knew now wasn't the time to start worrying about it. She had to keep her head in the game and focus on the task at hand, and now that her arm was feeling better, she needed to go find Shredder and follow through with her part of the plan. 

As Sam exited the room and headed towards her meeting spot with Shredder on the 4th floor she mentally went over her part of the rebellion in her head. Over and over again she mentally prepared herself for what was to come next.  
Finally, Sam had arrived at the meeting spot. As she stepped foot into the smaller training room she hid her shock in seeing Tatsu standing next to Shredder.  
"Forgive me for being late Sensei. I had some sudden matters to attend to" Sam said as she walked over towards Shredder and bowed in front of him.  
Shredder looked at the girl with the same evil stare that he used towards everyone.  
"I heard" he replied. "Somehow the turtles knew about tonight's events and decided to stop by for a visit. What a coincidence."  
"With your permission Sensei I would like to-" Sam said before the man in front of her held his hand up and signaled for her to stop. She closed her mouth and she looked up at Shredder whose expression had become more stern.  
"You see Samantha, I already have suspicions that it wasn't you who warned the turtles, but rather your older brother."  
Sam remained calm, but instantly tried to carefully defend her brother.  
"But Sensei…I don't understand, what would be his reason for-"  
"For you of course. Your brother has always been foolish and never could follow my orders, no matter what I did to teach him a lesson. He couldn't listen when instructed not to go to the cops, so I had his parents killed. He then refused to join when I asked him to, so I had his adopted parents killed, and then he wouldn't act in missions I commanded him to, so I had the majority of his siblings killed. I thought that by leaving one sibling alive then he would have a reason for living, which meant that I could still control him however I wanted, but by giving him one final chance to prove himself to me I made a grave mistake, and that was letting you live and turn into what you have become."  
By this time Sam was standing quietly. She wasn't sure where Shredder was going with all this, but she wasn't going to interrupt him either. She stood their patiently as she listened to what the man had to say.  
"Letting you live that night gave way for a broken child to find something that would make them whole, and for you that was the turtles. They gave your life meaning again in ways that your brother couldn't, especially since he was always here working for me. Because of that, even when you came to work for me, you continued to put them first. I gave you so many chances Samantha and you had such great potential for becoming a true and honorable Foot Soldier, but even after all the ways I had to convince you to join my side, you continued to fight for them!" Shredder said, yelling at the last part and clenching his fist in anger. "Karai told me about your mutagen malfunction. Please Sam, tell me, do you think I'm stupid?" he asked as he glared at the girl.  
"I'd never think such a thought" Sam responded calmly.  
"Heh, I beg to differ. I have your records from the human trials and you haven't had a malfunction like that for a long time, so this unexpected mishap is total bullshit. I was also informed of which turtle you chose to harm and the eye contact between you two, and it doesn't sound like the type of connection you make with an enemy, but rather like you're trying to send a signal to an ally. I should have known better than to have given you the chance to train under me, and such a betrayal doesn't deserve punishment, but rather, it deserves death."  
Sam grinned as she stared up at the man. "So, tonight is the final battle between us, huh?"  
Shredder smirked as he glared at Sam in a way that sent a chill up her spine.  
"Oh no, tonight is a very important night for me, the night when my clan takes over the city under my control. I have much more important matters to attend to, so I'm going to trust one of my most loyal soldiers to end your life."  
That's when Tatsu took a step forward and sent an evil smile in Sam's direction.  
Sam's eyes went wide as she realized that this would ruin the plans that had been set up for that night. Her job was to fight and distract Shredder, not to play around with Tatsu!  
"Coward! You can't even handle your own dirty work?!" Sam shouted as Shredder began to walk out of the room.  
He turned his head to look back at the girl one last time as he stood in the doorway. "You're not important enough to be dirty work. You're simply just taking out the trash, scraping off the dirt on my shoe. You are nothing and will always be nothing, especially when you're rotting in the ground."  
And with that, Shredder walked out of the room, and Tatsu came charging at Sam the moment his Sensei left. 

Sam quickly brought out her tonfa and drew them so that they were blocking her face as Tatsu's sword landed right on top of them. Sam pushed back as hard as she could and leaped as far away from him as she could. She didn't want to use her sleeve and it's power unless it was completely necessary because it took a while for it to charge, that and after just using mutagen capsules not much earlier than when this fight started, using another capsule of any kind so soon could also have some deadly side effects. Sam knew she was on her own for this one and she prayed that she was prepared. She only had three sets of weapons on her: her tonfa, Chuck's sais, and Chuck's nunchuks. Right know she was using her strongest weapon as she launched herself downwards towards her opponent. 

For the time being Sam was fighting defensively. Tatsu was one of the strongest and most skilled fighters within the building, hence why Shredder brought him over from Japan to help him take over New York. She tried to study his moves and wait for the right moment to try attacking herself, but she wasn't sure just when to start fighting on the offensive side. She could sense the man getting cockier and cockier as the battle drew on, and that's when Sam realized his weakness.  
Sam continued to block his moves until at one point she faked a block. She moved her arm as if she was going to block his blade, but she quickly moved her arm back. The blade came close to slicing into her forehead, but she knew she could be quicker, especially since this pull back caught the man off guard and his lunge forward to hit her was a bit clumsy since he assumed the shot would be blocked. Sam took advantage of this as she forcefully brought her elbow forward and smashed it against his face. Tatsu then tumbled back some as Sam ran forward and pushed him down on his back. She hoped to have ended the battle there, but she knew that would be way too soon for an opponent of his stature. As she ran back over to him, he swiped his leg to the side to move his body out of the way and pulled a kunai knife out of his pocket to block his head for safety, which ended up being the right move as Sam launched a shuriken star at him. It would have hit him right in the temple if the kunai knife hadn't blocked it. Sam was then tripped as she also lay on the ground next to the man. The two paused for a moment as they realized this was an extremely awkward position to fight in, so they both slid away from each other to give themselves room to quickly stand up and once they did so they were once again charging at each other.  
This time though, Sam slid down so that Tatsu would either have to jump above her, or would bring something down to cut her as she slid by, and this time she was happy that he did the latter. Sam watched carefully as she slid so that she would know which way to dodge, and as she slid by the blade that was way too close to her face, she hooked her tonfa around it as she curved back towards Tatsu who currently had his back to Sam in the position she was in now. She then used the tonfa in her left hand and batted it against his legs, once again making the man stumble, only this time Sam attacked repeatedly on the spot. She continued to hit his legs and dodge as he threw stars at her, but it was much more difficult for him to aim when he felt the pain of his legs being beaten over and over again by the girl's tonfa. Once it was obvious that Tatsu's legs had gone numb, Sam stood up so that she could get a better look at how injured he was. Tatsu tried to sit up, but failed as he was kicked back down. He held his arms up so that he could defend himself, but he was now so weak that even this became a challenge for him. He was able to defend himself for so long until Sam finally had hit his arms so many times with her weapon that he couldn't even hold his arms up anymore. 

Sam looked down at the man in front of her. She hated him with all of her being, but she wasn't a murderer. Tatsu was obviously finished for this fight, so instead of killing him she decided to pin him, but of course in a pretty brutal way. I mean hey, he was still the bad guy, and if he got back up then he would have tried to kill her for sure, so it was only fair. Plus he had done ten times worse to her than what she was going to do to him, so again, only fair. 

She grabbed two of the kunai knifes that had been thrown at her and shoved them into the man's palms, pinning him to the ground as he groaned in pain. He would never yell out and show his enemy that he was suffering, but his groan was all that Sam needed to hear to know that she was momentarily safe from his attacks. As she stood up and began to walk out of the room she heard him mumble "you would have been such a good soldier…it's such a shame we'll have to kill you…you'll never survive tonight, one of us will finish you-"  
That fast the man was out cold as soon as Sam's foot connected with his face. She shook her head at him.  
_"Yeah, and I'm sure you could have become an American hero if you used your skills towards a worthy cause. It's a shame you'll rot in jail once you're captured tonight" _Sam thought to herself as she exited the room. Tatsu could have been a true hero and saved so many lives, but sadly life somehow showed him the wrong path and taught him to fight for the wrong person. It was a shame, but sadly these things happen. 

Sam was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't realize Jay was now running in front of her in the hallway she had just entered.  
"Sam?! Wake up!" he said as he ran up to her and shook his hand in front of her face.  
Sam looked up at her brother. "Dude I'm fine, I just let my thoughts get a hold of me, but don't worry I'm fine. Where is everyone and what's going on right now?"  
"The guys that were in the room with you, by the way how's your arm-"  
"It's fine tell me what's happening!"  
"Okay, okay" Jay replied as he held his hands up in defense, "the guys from the room you were in earlier with the turtles, they informed them of what was going on tonight and the four of them volunteered to help us out. They're the ones who have been going around and have been placing the devices on the lock boxes so that the hostages could be set free! While our guys were blending in and acting as if nothing was going on, they were secretly helping move our plan along. Once the signal was sent, the collars were deactivated, the battle began, and the hostages have begun to escape!" he stated with a smile.  
Sam continued to give her brother a serious expression. "Is everything alright? How is the plan playing out so far?"  
"Many of the hostages have already left the building, but there's still a large amount who still need assistance in their escape. The Mutanimals are now fighting with us EXCEPT for the older ones."  
"What's wrong with them?" Sam asked, tilting her head to the side.  
"Shredder sent the older ones off with Sachs. A lot of us think it was a precaution he took since he began to suspect something was up once the turtles arrived. Anyway, they're all with Sachs whom they would have attacked on the spot, but from what some hiding eyes have told me, Sachs is keeping Professor Jordan Perry as his own personal hostage by gun point, so the Mutanimals are playing dumb with their collars so that he doesn't harm Perry."  
"So Sachs is still in the building, how about Hun and Karai?"  
"They're currently on the lower floors helping their Soldiers and Dragons fight off the rebels. So far we seem to be winning that battle thanks to the younger generation of Mutanimals, but we need to be cautious since a lot of rebels are needed to help the hostages escape, so the battle could flip at any moment if our numbers downstairs drop to low."  
"Okay…Where are the turtles?" Sam asked softly, both worried for their safety, but also terrified for when she would have to face them again.  
"I believe they're somewhere upstairs. Once Sachs, who was watching from a security room down below, picked up on the changes in the cameras times and what not, he sent soldiers upstairs to chase after the turtles. That's the last I heard of their situation."  
Sam nodded her head, praying that all four of her friends were alright.  
"Okay, I'll go head upstairs to help them. If you leave now then-"  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I'm not leaving!" Jay said defensively.  
"Jay I was just with Shredder and he knows you're the one who contacted the turtles, and YOU IDIOT!" Sam said as she started slapping her brother's shoulder, "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! WHY WOULD YOU VISIT THEM?!"  
"Ow, Sam stop!" Jay said as he basically wrapped his arms around Sam so that he was now holding her in a bear hug like stance. "We needed their help and you know it!"  
"I tried to ask them for help and you know what they did!"  
"They kicked you out, I get that" Jay said as he now held his sister in the same stance as her back was against his front. He rested his chin on her head as he continued to speak. 

"Sam, if this were a normal teenage situation in any way then I would kick their asses for the way they treated you. But it's not, and as much as you don't want to think about that night, you know it's true. Everything about your side and their side of the situation is royally fucked up and that's why so many of us are even in this situation, because the Foot have given us unfair and fucked up choices, and that includes what happened to all of you that night. You're hurting, trust me I understand that, but tonight all that needs to be pushed aside. Everyone here knows that those four took out Shredder on their own when they knocked him off that building and had him come crashing down in the middle of the streets of New York, and already they've helped us so much in following through with our plan. I know you're scared to face them, but please work with them. They need you as much as you need them, and all of us need all five of you tonight." 

Sam was silent as she processed her brother's words and she knew he was right. Everything he said was true and she knew that she had to act as a leader and not as an emotional teenager. Now wasn't the time to focus on emotions, it was time to keep her head in the game and stand tall and fight with honor and protect those who needed someone to look up to.  
"*sigh* alright, you win. But you need to leave now!" she exclaimed as she broke free from her brother's grasp and turned to look up at him with teary eyes.  
Jay gave her a gentle smile as he put his hand on her shoulder. "I know Shredder and the entire clan is after me now. Don't worry, because of this everyone is positioning me to help aide the escapees throughout the secret passageways. I've been instructed not to fight unless it's to defend the hostages. Is that alright?" he asked in a teasing manner.  
Sam looked down at her feet. "If you die…I'll kick your ass" she said as a tear rolled down her cheek.  
Jay pulled her in for one last hug. "I won't die if you promise you'll do everything in your power to stay alive as well."  
Sam nodded into her brother's shoulder as they continued to hug. After a few seconds the two backed away and they went their separate ways. Jay headed down the hall and leaped upwards, reaching for a vent where the tunnel way would lead to one of the secret stairwells, and Sam ran towards the elevators. There was no one there at the moment, so she hopped inside and checked her sleeve. She had enough power for one quick ride, so she leaped up, removed the emergency exit window from the top of the elevator, and after adjusting her sleeve she used it to force huge gusts of air from her palms as she soared up to the top floor of the elevator like a rocket.  
She then pressed some buttons on her sleeve that added to her powers for a split second as she punched the door. The doors to the elevator soared all the way towards the other end of the hallway as Sam quickly got to her feet and ran up a nearby staircase. This led her to the balcony of a large training room below, and as she walked over to peer over the edge, she was shocked to see all four of the turtles standing below her as they were surrounded by Foot soldiers. 

At first she was just happy to see that they were all still standing and didn't seem to be badly harmed. This allowed her to let out a quick sigh of relief, but this was no time to celebrate. Sam crouched down and whispered into her walkie talkie "if any rebels hear this, this is Sam Allan Park. Our guests will need our help in fighting off a huge mob of soldiers. Get as many people to meet up along the balcony of the large training room on the top floor, and bring the gas guns. I have a plan. Use the green lights on the guns to signal when I should corner the turtles with me. I can protect them from the knock out gas. Over and out." 

And with that Sam leaped up and over the balcony and landed right in front of the turtles as she quickly began to plan her next move. 

**Ahhhhh I wanted this to be the last chapter for the finale but I was wrong. I made it too long for a finale, so this is the pre-finale! Haha the next chapter will be the official end…or will it ;)  
**

**You'll just have to keep reading to find out. But hopefully you're still enjoying what you've read so far and I hope you're anticipating what's to come.  
**

**Comments and constructive criticism are always appreciated, and I hope you're enjoying the story! :D **


	27. Chapter 27

**Any references to TMNT or anything from popular media and culture is NOT MINE. I only own my OC's. **

Chapter #27

***Theme:  
All Time Low: Old Scars/Future Hearts*  
**

The turtles were in shock as they tried not to stare at Sam who had suddenly appeared in front of them, but they wanted to know where the heck she had come from, and where had she been? Wasn't she supposed to be distracting Shredder? So how did she end up here? Their thoughts were disrupted as they heard the surrounding soldiers start insulting the girl in front of them.  
"Awww look who decided to show up?"  
"Figures, she's on their side!"  
"I knew it! TRAITOR!"  
"Sensei is going to love it when we tell him that we killed the weasel of the clan!" random voices from the crowd of soldiers continued to shout out.  
The turtles couldn't stand what they were hearing and were about to charge forward and begin their attack until they noticed that Donnie was focused on something in front of him.  
While the other three brothers were giving slight glances to each other to signal that they were ready to attack, Donnie was the only one who ignored their signal as he was slowly reaching towards one of his pockets ever so slightly as to not make it known to the crowd in front of him that he was moving at all. 

What the other brothers couldn't see was that as Sam kneeled on one knee and held her arm as if it was in pain, this was all a farce. In reality, as the crowd in front of her wasted their time calling her names and insulting her, Sam was using her hidden hand that seemed to be in pain to sign letters to Donnie. Using sign language Sam spelt out the words 'SPREAD OUT IN' as she then held up five fingers, then four, then three, then two, and as she put down her last finger she heard Donnie yell "DISPERSE!" as he threw down one of his homemade smoke bombs. 

Sam quickly stood up as she heard the four behind her leap up and over to other portions of the room. She adjusted her glove and was about to throw her right arm up in front of her so that she could use her wind power from the mutagen and the device to blow away any nearby soldiers, but instead she just stood there as her jaw dropped in pained amazement. In front of her was Michelangelo. His back was to the crowd of soldiers and apparently Dragons who were now shooting at the two. Sam hadn't even noticed that there were Dragons mixed in with the crowd, but it had to have been them and not Foot soldiers holding the guns because they were too stupid to aim for Mikey's legs and only aimed for his back and head which of course were blocked by his shell, freaking idiots, but hey it was playing out for them right now so Sam wasn't complaining. In fact, it was perfect that it was only the dumb Dragons who were attacking right now since Sam was so lost in her emotional thoughts that she couldn't move.

Mikey was standing so that his back was to the crowd so he could deflect all bullets shot at both him and Sam. He had his hands near the side of his head as his arms and elbows stretched outwards. Usually one would stand this way if they were blocking punches that were aimed at their head, but Mikey was doing this so that he could cover and defend as much of Sam's body as he possibly could. 

Sam was shocked. How could he defend her like this? He was putting his body and his life at risk so that he could protect her, but what had she done to deserve this? She had kept secrets from him and his family which then lead to her almost possibly killing Raph, and then she treated them all like shit when she had a chance to confess the truth to them. She had done nothing but pushed them away for their own good, so why was he still here protecting her like they were best friends? She had done nothing within that past month that showed him any respect, and hell he was the final one that told her to leave the night of the incident! So why was he here now? Why was he acting like nothing had ever happened? 

Sam then looked back up and realized that Mikey had never winced or anything from the bullets being shot at them, but rather he was staring down at her. Even now as he was literally being attacked he was still putting her first. He didn't care what was happening to him, just as long as Sam was safe from any and all harm.  
Sam finally snapped and realized that this was wrong. Her friend needed help and now wasn't the time to get emotional and think over things. Now it was Mikey whose eyes went wide as he saw Sam's eyes turn blue as she spun around and kicked him in the chest.  
Mikey went flying backwards. At first he was confused as to why the girl would treat him in such a way, but that was before he heard the groaning of the eight soldiers he had just knocked unconscious as his body slammed against them in the crash. He smiled as he realized where his friends mind was at, but then he switched back to a serious expression as he saw Sam running down the now opened path that Mikey had just created.  
"Up-up!" she yelled at him as she came charging towards him.  
Mikey leaned down and cupped his hands together as Sam jumped up and planted her right foot in his hands as he launched her upwards and behind him. As Mikey pulled out his nunchuks and started fighting the soldiers that were beginning to crowd him he couldn't help but laugh as he saw Sam land on a soldier's shoulders and basically tackle him to the ground and then use his knocked out body as a shield from the surrounding soldiers. Sam was still the same unique and sporadic fighter that she was before everything changed, and that made him happier than anything. 

While Mikey continued to fight the small group of soldiers that were with him, Sam looked around to see which brother needed help the most at the moment. Somehow a majority of the soldiers had followed Donnie towards the far corner of the room. Sam ran and zipped through the soldiers, blocking attacks along the way as she made her way over towards where Donnie was defending himself as best as he could against the large crowd, but slowly the incoming soldiers gained the upper hand as they were able to watch for the best moment to swoop in and attack while their rival was distracted. One soldier was about to make their move and Donnie could sense their presence, but because of how many other soldiers were attacking in front of him, he couldn't turn around to defend himself. He braced himself for the attack from the sword that would soon be slicing into the back of his neck, but the cut never came. As Donnie quickly glanced over his shoulder he saw Sam land a kick to the soldier's wrist, and then a punch to the man's face after he grabbed his wrist in pain. Now that Donnie had someone watching his back, he was able to fight off the soldiers in front of him much more aggressively. Sam stayed in this spot and helped guard her friend until the crowd around him dwindled some. She then looked over and saw some soldiers who were scaling the walls over top of where Leo was standing and fighting down below. 

Sam foresaw their plan, but she didn't want to leave Donnie hanging.  
"Hey, you good here?" Sam asked as a man ran towards her and she twisted her body so that using his momentum she could flip him over her shoulder and onto his back.  
"I'm fine, go help the others" Donnie replied as he dodged a katana brought down near his shoulder as he then used his bo to slap the man's arm near his elbow and then twisted it so that it nailed his opponent in the face.  
Sam nodded as she ran over towards where Leo was standing. As she ran she launched some shuriken stars up towards the men who were climbing the wall. She had a strong feeling that their plan was to drop themselves onto Leo and basically pile on top of him to a point where it would be difficult for him to get back up and the soldiers would continue to harm him then as well. Each of Sam's throws made a direct hit. Each man's hand was cut which lead to some of them falling instantly, but three remained as they glared down at her. They sensed that it was now or never as they released their hands covered in climbing claws from the wall and aimed their landing towards where Leo was standing. Sam quickly adjusted her sleeve and threw her right hand up as her eyes shone a dark color as the black covered the back of her brown eyes.  
"Leo duck!" Sam shouted.  
Leo did as he was told as a huge gust of air rushed over top of him, taking the falling soldiers and even some that were standing nearby with it as they all went flying across the room.  
The fight quickly picked back up as Leo stood up and used his katanas to block a sword that was swung at him.  
Sam looked across the room and saw that now it was Raph who had the largest group of soldiers fighting him. She made her way over towards the other side of the room. Somehow these soldiers had gotten their hands on some guns, which was very unusual for soldiers to use guns, but who knew. Tonight hadn't gone the way the Foot would have liked, so maybe they were being extra cautious and were fighting in ways that they weren't used to. Sam threw a few more shuriken stars so that they would slice the tips of the guns making them unable to shoot, and once again each star made a direct hit. Within a split second of the soldiers looking at their weapons to see what had happened, Raph had come barreling through the crowd. Sam ran over and aided him in the fight against the now somewhat smaller crowd.  
"Behind you!" Sam shouted as two new soldiers ran towards the large turtle.  
Raph landed a kick to the soldier in front of him as he then turned around and twisted his sais so that they hooked around the men's wrists as he then flipped them behind him. Their bodies slammed against the wall, and as Raph turned to face them to make sure they stuck the landing he had intended, this was when he saw some small green lights from the balcony up ahead.  
"Uhhhh, guys?! We have more company!" Raph shouted.  
"ALLIES!" Sam shouted. She quickly looked around where all the green dots were and noticed that in the far front left corner there were no lights, but green surrounded the top everywhere else up on the balcony.  
She noticed Donnie already heading that way since he had probably already guessed that that was the safe spot. She saw Leo and Mikey doing the same as she nodded toward them to signal that that was the right move.  
"Raph we need to move to the opposite side of the room, now!"  
Raph was a bit stunned after hearing the girl say his name for the first time in weeks. For a brief moment it felt the same as before everything had happened which felt nice, but now wasn't the time to get emotional. 

The two made their way through the crowd, but the soldiers soon started swarming them.  
"Raph, can you get us over their quickly, but in a way where I can still prep my sleeve?" Sam asked as she punched one man and shoved him into another.  
"Heh, say no more" Raph said as he swooped the girl over his left shoulder. As he used his right shoulder to barrel through the crowd, Sam was adjusting her sleeve as she was carried on his left.  
As soon as they reached the spot where the other brothers were standing, her sleeve was ready. She heard the clicking of the guns from up above getting ready to launch, and she was just about ready as well.  
"Uhhhh, Sam?" Leo asked nervously.  
"Stand back" she said as she aimed her hand at the ground. Her eyes lit up in blue and black as huge gusts of air came flying from her palm and went up into the air. Because of how she angled her hand, the air was going straight up, almost as if making a wall of wind that you could physically see. The boys could somewhat see what was happening on the other side. A dark colored gas was shot from the guns above and was now consuming the rest of the room. Thanks to Sam's device, all five of them were now safe from this gas since they were on the other side of the wind wall as it created a barrier from the knock out gas that surrounded the rest of the lower half of the room. 

Once Sam saw the green lights turn off then she knew it was safe to stop using her device. The gusts of wind came to an end as Sam removed her hand from its raised position right above the floor and once again her eyes returned to normal. Five of the rebel soldiers from the balcony above removed their masks as they leaped down onto the floor below. Sam recognized the five familiar faces as they removed their masks and she was going to walk over to them and ask for updates on how the plan was going, but she sensed that Mikey was walking behind her. She knew a time would come when she'd have to confront him again and that she wouldn't be able to hide from him forever, but still, now was not the time for the difficult and emotional reunion. As she heard his footsteps come close enough for him to be standing behind her, Sam aimed her arm down as she used her device to push gusts of air from her palms as she rose into the air and up onto the balcony. She could tell that Mikey was upset as he called after her, but she couldn't face him right now for multiple reasons, so she exited the room with the other rebel soldiers to get the updates that she needed. 

Meanwhile down below, Mikey was still calling after Sam as the recognized faces of Key, Kris, Kyle, Ken, and now Kevin were running over towards the turtles.  
"Dude she's gone already, just chill, okay?" Ken said. The way he spoke was sympathetic, but Mikey was so consumed by his emotions that he hadn't perceived the man's words that way and reacted harshly for this reason.  
"Sorry, I can't just chill and let my best friend go get killed by the biggest criminal this city has ever known" Mikey said callously.  
Ken could sense the harsh tone and reacted the same way. "I thought you'd have more confidence in her that she could protect herself."  
"I thought you were smart enough not to let someone who sometimes let their emotions take control fight the Shredder by them self."  
"She volunteered herself and she's the best one out of everyone here for the job and you know it."  
"What I know is that I'm the only one who has been trying to stop her from fighting alone."  
The two were now standing face to face, chest to chest.  
"We're trying to get to a point where we can go fight with her. Do you honestly think we want her fighting alone?"  
"I've yet to see anyone stop her."  
"That's just because she keeps running away from YOU." *shoulder shove*  
"Only because she's in the situation that YOU allowed." *shoulder shove*  
"Yeah, after you ABANDONED HER." *shoulder shove*  
"Says the one that LIED TO HER *shoulder shove* when she was suffering all alone after losing her family."  
"We did it to keep her safe!" *push*  
"Because letting her run off is really keeping her safe!" *push*  
"As least she wants to talk to me, she can't stand to see you!" *balling up fist*  
"If you weren't such a weak piece of shit then you'd fight Shredder so that she wouldn't be in this situation!" *balling up fist*  
"Well if you weren't such an asshole and supported her when she needed it then she never!-" 

Just as Mikey and Ken were about to throw punches at each other, Leo, Raph, Key, Kyle, and Kris came over and broke up the fight. Raph pulled Mikey's arms back as Leo pushed him away just as Kris and Kyle each grabbed one of Ken's arms as Key pushed him away.  
"Mikey, what are you thinking?" Leo asked. "They're not the enemy! What in your mind is telling you that it's okay to fight with our allies?"  
"Yeah but what he said was!-"  
"Is what he said wrong? No, it's not! Are we proud of how we all acted and how things went down? Of course not! But you know better than to let emotions get in the way, hell you literally just said that you were worried about Sam for doing that. THINK. BEFORE. YOU. SPEAK" Leo said, poking his brother in the forehead each time he spoke.  
Key then turned towards Ken. "Same goes for you dickhead" he said as he flicked Ken on his forehead.  
"I know, but-"  
"Nope, no excuses. Everyone in this room is to blame for what Sam's going through. Those four have their part in all this, and the orange one is right about us. We've been hiding things from Sam for years so we have no right to say a damn thing, NONE of us do. We've all fucked up somewhere along the way, so get over it and let's move on so that we can save Sam!"  
Mikey and Ken looked across the room at each other, their arms still being held back.  
"Sorry for the verbal attacks" Mikey said lightly.  
"Sorry for bringing up dark details. Just, you're not the only one who's concerned about her" Ken replied in the same manner.  
Mikey lightly yanked his arms free, though Raph didn't hold back in any way as he trusted that his brother could now control himself.  
"Good to know," he replied with a grin, "so let's go help her and make up for when we fucked up" he said as he put his hand out in front of him.  
Ken also removed his arms from his friends grasp and walked over to shake Mikey's hand.  
"Sounds good to me."

"Now that that's over," Kris said as he now took the floor, "thanks to you guys a lot of the non-fighters have already left the building. There's still a few more groups who are making their way out though and there's also still a lot of loyal soldiers and dragons within the building who need to be taken down and tied up so that we can move their bodies to the parking garage across the street for the cops. Oh, and we're still trying to figure out Sachs's whereabouts. He still has Professor Perry and the older Mutanimals following him around."  
Just as Kris was finishing up his update, a voice start hollering through his walkie talkie.  
_"BREACH! BREACH! Soldiers have gotten outside with mutagen weapons and have also destroyed another one of our pathways! Innocents are going to get hurt if we don't help them now!"  
_"It looks like we have more work to do before we can reach Sam" Kris said.  
"We can help" Leo added.  
Kris looked at the turtle in shock. "Are you guys sure? Like, you'd help us even though you've helped us in so many ways already?"  
"That's sorta what we do" Mikey said teasingly which then received a nod of approval and a fist bump from Ken.  
Kris smiled as he then held his walkie talkie to his lips.  
"This is KW4. I have a group that will pursue the loyals where the breach is. Have any remaining soldiers go with the younger Mutanimals and stop the soldiers that are leaving the building and make sure you retrieve those mutagen weapons before they end up in the wrong hands."  
_"This is LB3, the breach is on the 12__th__ floor. Also, multiple teams are pursuing the loyal escapees."  
_"Roger that" Kris replied as he then started leading the group out of the room and downstairs towards the lower floor. 

After a few minutes of running down the main stairwell the group then reached the 12th floor. Multiple Foot soldiers were lining innocent people up along the wall. The hostages were forced to put their hands behind their head and kneel down and place their foreheads on the ground. Once the soldiers saw the group of nine enter the room they quickly forgot about the hostages and switched their focus towards attacking and defeating their rivals.  
"Split up and attack them in separate sections. They're strongest when in groups so be aware of that. Kevin, try leading them down the hall towards another stairwell" Kris stated. The others nodded and the battle began.  
Donnie was the quickest and was the first to fight head on with a couple of soldiers that were standing closest to where the group was, and as he fought these two, the others ran past them and continued to fight the others.  
They tried to keep up with this pattern. Kyle and Ken were the next two to reach the soldiers, so as they fought a group of five soldiers the others maneuvered their way past this group and then went to fight the others behind them. Key and Leo took a small group and then past them Kevin and Mikey took a small group as Raph ran past them some and fought any incoming soldiers towards the end of the hall. As soldiers were knocked unconscious and their manned positions were left unguarded, Kevin would run back and lead them back down the way the group had entered the space and then lead them to another secret stairwell nearby. As one section was free, then our heroes would pursue more soldiers that entered the room further down until eventually the majority of them were now fighting as a large group down towards the end of the hall. 

Within the commotion of the fight, nobody but Raph had seen a little girl randomly run away from the large crowds. She seemed to be about 5 years old, and what really hurt Raph was how scared she was as she ran away with tears streaming down her face. He honestly had no idea what he was supposed to do in this situation. Should he go after her, or would that scare her more? Should he wait for someone else to notice? His thoughts were cut short as he saw three more soldiers (when would they stop showing up?!) enter the room and walk over to the girl. One man grabbed her arm while one of his companions opened a door. It seemed like they were going to drag the girl into the room and leave her there so that regardless of what happened they would always have their hostage, and at that point Raph was ticked off beyond belief.  
The largest turtle charged towards the men. Two pulled out katanas while one pulled out a set on tonfa. Blades clashed together as Raph focused on fighting defensively so that he could also keep an eye on where the young child had went. To stunned to move, the girl was paralyzed as she sat up against the wall and held her legs to chest. Raph moved his body so that the soldiers couldn't reach the girl without going through him. Raph waited for the right moment as he hooked his sai onto the one man's katana and as he pulled back the sword went sliding down the hallway. He then brought his knee up and kicked the man as he was caught off guard, and then Raph shoved him into his companion. Raph then went head to head with the ninja wielding the tonfa staffs. The two fought to be on the offensive side of the battle, but in the end it was Raphael who won as he used his sais to push the tonfa staffs to the side as he then lunged his head forward and swiftly bashed the other man in the head with his own.

Just as the last man fell to the floor, Raph sensed movement behind him. What he hadn't realized was that the little girl behind him had cautiously chased after the katana that had slid down the hallway as she was now holding it above the head of one of the soldiers who had already fallen unconscious. Raph was about to call out to her not to do what he feared she would, but just as he opened his mouth, a young woman had run over and yelled to the girl to stop first. She rushed past the turtle as if he wasn't even there and ripped the sword from the child's hands as she tossed it to the side and hugged the child tightly. The girl was still crying, but the hug was definitely calming her down. Raph assumed this woman was the child's mother, and he was shocked at the fact that these two had been living here together. He couldn't imagine what horrors the two had experienced while living here, and he feared how they might traumatize this child's future even if she did escape.  
Just then, a couple of Purple Dragons had run down the hallway and began shooting wildly throughout the hallway. Raph rushed over to the women and towered over them. He used his shell to block any bullets that came near them as they cowered in front of him, the mother holding her daughter tightly and trying her best to use her body to shield her child from any stray bullets as well. Eventually Leo and Key ran down and took out both those two Dragons and all other Purple Dragons members that were making their way down the hallway. Raph would have joined…but he just had to know how this poor child ended up in this position.  
"Why…why is your kid here?" Raph asked. He didn't mean for his words to come out sounding as cold as they did, but he couldn't hide how irked he was that this woman allowed this to happen.  
The woman glared up at the turtle in front of her. "Do you think I wanted this? I was pregnant when I was captured. I never even got the chance to tell her father that I was carrying since I was captured so soon! And because of how twisted this place is I couldn't even save her by putting her up for adoption if I wanted to!" the woman said aggressively.  
Raph's heart was crushed. He was a tough guy and wasn't the best at showing emotion (and honestly he hated when he had to) but hearing this broke his heart. How could this world be so cruel to such innocent people? This child had probably experienced nothing but violence in this hostile environment and probably didn't even understand why, she had no clue as to why she was born and raised in a place where no one has a say in how they're treated or even why they're treated so terribly.  
He looked down at the woman and gave her a sympathetic look as he spoke gently. "I didn't mean to say it like that, and I'm not judging, just…I'm so, so sorry…"  
The woman calmed down herself and changed her tone as she also spoke kindly to him. "Thanks to you guys, she'll never have to suffer like this ever again" she said as she began to smile. "Thank you."  
The little girl then smiled up at Raph as well. "Thank you sir."  
Raph couldn't help but smile as he kneeled down in front of the child. "Hey now, I'm only 15. I'm too young for you to call me sir. Just Raph, kay?"  
The girl looked as if she was going to say something else, but Kevin had called over to the girl and her mom, and after sending Raph one more thankful smile, the two ran off to follow Kevin towards the secret stairwell they would use to escape.  
As Kevin ran off with the group of innocent escapees, Kris walked back over towards the turtles and informed them on what to do next.  
"Alright guys, I just got word that Sam is looking for Shredder right now so that she can follow through with her portion of the plan. There's still a lot of non-fighters that need guidance, and there's still a decent amount of Foot Soldiers who are trying to escape the building and wreak as much havoc as they can. You guys have fought Shredder before, so you four are way more capable in helping her fight him than we are."  
"Do you know where she is now?" Leo asked.  
Kris nodded. "She's a little further down on the 10th floor. It's not as large as before, but there's another open room that's used as a training space. From what I was told she was trailing Shredder and they ended up near that room. I'll show you-"  
"It's this one, right?" Donnie asked as he pointed to a small square on the map.  
Kris couldn't help but smile at how quick the brainy turtle was. "That's the one. Most of our enemies should be further down away from your destination at this point, so taking the main stairwell should be your quickest route. We'll try to catch up with you guys, but we've already sustained some injuries up until now, but we'll do the best we can."  
Leo shook his head. "You guys focus on getting everyone else out of here. You've all dealt with Shredder far enough. We'll work with Sam to take him down, so you guys need to fight to get everyone to safety. Got it?"  
"Spoken like a true leader" Kris stated. "Alright, good luck and go kick ass" he said as he pat Leo on the shoulder as he ran past him, gathered up the rest of his group, and then left in the direction that Kevin had moments before.  
"Alright guys, let's go save our sister" Leo said aloud to which all his brothers smiled and nodded. Donnie lead the way since he now knew this map like the back of his hand. He noted where all the short cuts throughout the building were, and because of this the four brothers arrived at their destination much quicker than they expected. They expected to at least hear either Sam or Shredder or someone somewhere nearby…but the training room was completely empty and silent upon their arrival.  
"I don't like this" Raph softly growled, sensing that something was up.  
Each of them jumped a bit when out of nowhere they heard a rustling. Donnie listened closely as he realized that the sound was coming from him. He reached into one of his pockets and pulled out the walkie talkie that he was given earlier when they first came into contact with their teen allies. After fidgeting with the device a voice could finally be heard clearly through the connection.  
_"Turtles? Turtles!" _the voice shouted.  
"We're here!" Mikey shouted before Donnie could speak after hitting the button to communicate.  
"Smooth" Raph said as he rolled his eyes and shoved his brother.  
_"We've been played! We have some weasels amongst the rebels, everything you were told was a trap! Stay away from the 10__th__ floor…"  
_The turtles could hear the voice continue to go on, but at this point it just sounded like mumbles. Each of them began to feel dizzy, and before any of them could say anything, or explain to Mikey what was happening, each of them fainted and collapsed onto the floor.

***20 minutes later***

The brothers began to open their eyes, or at least the fought their hardest to do so. They all felt light headed as they woke back up and tried to remember what had last happened to them.  
Raph was the first to try and actually move, and by doing so, he was the first to realize that once again they were all handcuffed, but this time the electronic cuffs were attached to the wall, and instead of their hands being behind them they were now hanging up and off to the side.  
"Great, just great" Raph mumbled.  
"I see you're finally awake. Funny, this is like Déjà vu, isn't it?"  
The turtles groaned as they recognized whose voice they had just heard as they looked up and saw that in front of them was Eric Sachs. Just like the teen rebels had said, Sachs was surrounded by some of the older looking members of the Mutanimals while holding Jordan Perry hostage as he currently held a gun to the kneeling man's head. There was a tall and buff Akita Inu male with orange and white fur, a darker green colored female turtle who had a lot of muscle, a tall male turtle who had even larger muscles and dark green skin, a lighter green female turtle with a slimmer figure, a female lioness with tan fur, and a large and tall alligator who also had a lot of muscle on him. It was the male turtle and the dog who were holding the turtle's weapons as Sachs continued to talk. 

"Ahhh it's so nice to see you boys again. The thing is, I don't really need you anymore. I would have loved to have had a visit from you guys back when I could still visit my own home, but now I have these guys" he said as he used his free hand to point at all the silent mutants standing around him. "Thanks to them and all the mutagen we now have access to, you four and your DNA are worthless, so by visiting my lab today, well you're just getting in the way at this point. I'd take care of you myself, but I have better things to do, so I'm going to have these guys beat the shit out of you instead" he said with a devilish grin. "They have these lovely collars around their necks which means that they'll do anything I ask them to. And if they don't, then I'll rob them of the man that gave let them life" he said as he pulled back the trigger to the gun. 

The turtles stayed calm as they heard the clicking of the gun, but they knew they had to do something soon. In just a few movements it was going to be either them or the professor and they really didn't like those odds. Donnie was trying to think of a way to break the locks, Raph and Mikey were fighting to break through the cuffs with brute force, and Leo was about to try and play mind games with Sachs as to buy time for his brothers, but each of them was interrupted as once again a miracle happened right before their eyes. 

***Not much earlier*  
**

After Sam had been updated by the rebels on the balcony and was told that overall the rebels were managing to pull through with the plan, she decided that she should go back to focusing on where Shredder was hiding and luring him towards the roof of the building. She was sticking to this plan for the most part as she walked cautiously down the hallways with her tonfa in hand, but she was also listening closely to her radio in case anyone desperately needed more help. She was about to go and provide help where the breach was located, but once she heard that her friends, both the humans and turtles, had set off in that direction then she knew that they would have plenty of help. As she was about to round the corner of the floor she was on she suddenly heard a soft mumbling sound come from her pocket. She pulled out her walkie talkie and realized that the battery was wearing out and making it more and more difficult to hear what was being said on the other end, so Sam tried turning the volume up a little louder so that she could quickly receive the update.  
_"Sam?! Sam?! Uh, if you ever get this message, the turtles were lured into a trap! There were some weasels amongst us and we were lied to. We got info that Shredder was in the training room on the 10__th__ floor but it was all a set up! The turtles will need assistance I'm sure!" _said Kris through the walkie talkie. 

It wasn't until Sam had started lowering the volume to the small device that she heard footsteps coming up from behind her.  
As she tried to quickly look around the corner and get a sneak peek at who was heading her way, a large fist nailed her in the face as she went flying backwards into the wall. Now Sam was an extremely tough girl, but she was still human, so this hit really hurt her and caused some serious damage. She fought to stand up even though she felt like she couldn't breathe and that her legs now felt like noodles. She looked up to see not only Hun, but also Karai walking over towards her.  
"You've gotta be kidding me" she mumbled.  
"Awwww no sarcastic remarks? Wow, you must have really hit her hard" Karai said with way too much pep. "Now it's my turn."  
"Save some of the fun for me" Hun said, cracking his knuckles as he walked behind Karai who was now running towards Sam.  
Sam couldn't really feel her legs enough to run, but she knew she needed to move or else Karai would soon be slicing into her with her swords, so she jumped onto a nearby trash can in the hallway and sloppily leaped over Karai. This would have worked in giving the two some space, except for the fact that Hun knew that Sam was hurting and used his size and strength to his advantage. He blocked off the left walkway of the hall and quickly punched Sam again when she stumbled from not being able to maintain a steady landing. As she tumbled backwards from the huge force that came with the follow through of the punch, Sam was then kicked by Karai who was now blocking off the right side of the hallway.

It seemed like forever as this pattern of Hun and Karai hurting and then passing the girl back and forth dragged on. Sam hadn't been hit in the face much, but she didn't think she could physically take anymore blows to her mid-section before something within her would break or rupture. Knowing this, she played dead on the floor after Karai had hit for the last time. Sam curled up and coughed as she laid in a ball on the ground. A one-on-one battle between both her and Karai OR between her and Hun wouldn't have been so bad, but taking on both of them at the same time by herself was a million times more difficult than she ever could have imagined. Her sleeve could have aided her in the fight, but it was still charging from the battle where she had protected the turtles from the knock out gas. Because of all this, Sam decided it was time for her final resort. She tried to conceal her movements as she secretly released four tiny liquid capsules from the wrist compartment of her sleeve. She brought her hand up to her mouth as she coughed and then quickly swallowed the four Ibuprofen pill sized capsules. 

"Any last words before we finish you off?" Karai asked mockingly.  
Sam could feel the mutagen kicking in. This mutagen not only provided it's user with immense strength, but it was also a rapid healing agent, and Sam had studied and only used mutagen supplements that matched well with her DNA. These capsules would not only help enhance her powers, but it was also repairing her body as the mutagen combined with her cells. Because the dosage was small (compared to if she had taken way more capsules) the enhancement would only last for so long, but that was all Sam needed in order to save herself in this situation.  
Sam slowly pushed herself off the ground as she turned around to face her opponents. Both villains' eyes went wide as they saw Sam's eyes change color, her eyes returning to the black coating behind the blue that covered her pupils and iris. At the same time, all the veins in throughout Sam's body also glowed in bright blue and white shades.  
Sam launched her body towards Karai with an incredible amount of force as the two slammed into the wall. Karai blocked her face as Sam started wildly throwing punches at her. Sam was swift, but so was Karai, and the two began quickly began swinging their weapons at each other. The two were moving quickly which made even the slightest attacks become so much more powerful, including when Sam dodged an attack from Karai and then hooked her tonfa around the woman's wrists as she launched her at Hun. Sam then ran up to the man so quickly that he hadn't even realized she moved until he felt the aching from Sam jabbing her tonfa in his face. She then swung her legs down and forced the man to trip backwards as he accidentally pulled Karai down with him. Sam the swung her foot and kicked Karai in the face as she came tumbling down, and Hun had banged his head on the ground as he fell backwards, and with that both of her opponents were now out cold. 

Sam then gripped the sides of her head in agony as she fell to her knees. Something was wrong. The mutagen she had used was a strong match to her DNA specifically and it should have mixed well with the rest of her body, so why did she feel this pounding in her head? Maybe her body needed time to adjust to the stronger dosage since this was the most mutagen she had put into her body at one time. She took long deep breaths until finally she felt like she could breathe and move without any pain. Now that she was in control of her body again and could concentrate, Sam remembered that the turtles were tricked by Sachs and needed her help. She was currently on the 11th floor which meant she wasn't too far away. She darted towards the main stairwell and within seconds ran past a window that overlooked the training room that the turtles were in. Sam took a few steps back and sprinted forward as she punched her way through the glass and leaped down to the floor where she was now standing with her back to the turtles. 

***Everyone POV*  
**

The turtles were in awe (and also felt déjà vu) as they saw Sam land in front of them and then get up and move so fast that Sachs never even got a chance to react to what was happening as he lost control of his gun after being picked up and thrown across the room.  
Now that Professor Perry didn't have a gun behind his head for the first time that day, he quickly tried to slide away towards the far side of the room.  
Sam was now staring at the group of Mutanimals that were looking at her from a few steps away.  
The tall canine came charging at her as he beat his hands on the ground. Sam glared at him as she charged towards him. Suddenly, all the veins in her body could be seen as they lit up in bright blue and white colors. She then grabbed onto the mutants paw as she flipped him over her shoulder with so much force that he literally went crashing through the floor.  
"Holy shit" Raph whispered, having a hard time believing what he was seeing.  
"Sam…" Mikey choked out. He was scared and concerned about whether she was truly safe or not as the lioness then beat her hands on the ground and charged towards Sam only to accept the same defeat.  
The larger male turtle and the slimmer female turtle then came charging at Sam from the right. They were able to throw a few punches, but they both met the same defeat as Sam sent them flying into the next room as they crashed through the right wall.  
"What do we do?!" Raph called out. "They're innocent!"  
"SAM! Sachs is down, they're on our side!" Leo exclaimed.  
All four brothers kept yelling out to Sam as she now sent the larger female turtle through the left wall.  
"Why can't she hear us?!" Mikey called out.  
"The blue and black in her eyes means she used more mutagen, but obviously something went wrong and she's lost control!" Donnie shouted. 

The brothers couldn't do anything but watch as they saw Sam launch the final mutant, the large alligator, flying through the roof of that room and into the room above them.  
Once all the mutants had been sent out of the room…everything was quiet. Each of the turtles was terrified as they saw Sam calm her breathing and then turn around to face them. They had no idea what she was thinking, and her blank expression didn't help put them at ease either. Sam continued to stare at the turtles as she calmed herself and collected her thoughts, and then, she did something that the turtles hadn't seen in weeks. 

She smiled at them. 

Sam was now looking over at the turtles from where she was standing and was staring at each of them with a heartfelt and genuine smile on her face. It almost hurt the boys to see this for multiple reasons. 

For one, the girl who was now smiling at them so kindly had just used her mutagen induced strength to send six large mutants flying out of the room, so how she had made this quick of an emotional and stable change, they had no idea. The second reason…each of them had come to miss that smile. They never realized how much they had come to take such simple things for granted. They had grown so used to seeing Sam laugh and smile whenever she hung out with them that they never realized how much something so simple would mean so much to them once they finally saw it again after not seeing it for so long. It may have taken certain brothers a longer time to realize that they truly did miss this, but they all felt the pain in the fact that this was the first time Sam had smiled at them after not doing so for such a long period of time.

Sam had only taken two steps towards where the brothers were standing when she sensed something coming towards her. She dodged to the side and then forward as she dodged multiple kunai knives that were thrown at her. She was now standing with her back to Donatello as she saw Tatsu jump down and land where she had just been previously standing. 

"You're stupider than I thought" Tatsu said as he glared at the girl.  
"It's called fighting with honor" Sam said with a nasty smirk. "Killing you when you were unconscious would have been the cowardly thing to do."  
"Heh, you can't kill, you're too weak" he replied in a cocky tone.  
"Well then, why don't we make this a day of firsts? " Sam asked as she tucked her tonfa away and switched them out for another weapon. Everyone was shocked as they saw her pull out the pair of sais that belonged to her younger brother.  
Tatsu shot her a strange look. "Since when do you fight with sais? You've never touched a pair since you got here."  
"Like I said, day of firsts" Sam stated as she darted towards Tatsu who was wielding his own sword. Blades clashed as the two fought on the tips of their toes. There was no room for mistakes in this fight or else it would cost the other opponent their life. 

The brothers sensed this as they continued to try and free themselves from their electronic handcuffs. They couldn't stand to keep watching Sam participate in all these fights and them just stand there and have to watch her suffer.  
Donnie was growing more and more frustrated than any of them. There was a control box nearby and he could have easily hacked into the system and freed his brothers, but sadly he was caught as well and there was nothing he could do. The material the cuffs were made of was too tough for them to use force to break out of, but what else could they do?!  
"Excuse me, um, do you have a device that would, um let's see, override that system there?" came a timid voice.  
The brothers were all so worried about Sam that they had completely forgotten about the professor who had been glued to his spot along the wall. When had he snuck over to where the turtles were, and how had he done so without any of them noticing?  
"There's a thin device in my left pocket, basically a re-wired DS Light. It has a program that can use codes to override whatever system is used to control these handcuffs" Donnie explained to the man.  
"Ah yes okay. Um, sorry for this" the professor said as he carefully reached into the instructed pocket and pulled out the device.

As Donnie helped instruct the professor on how to work the device, the fight between Sam and Tatsu was still unfolding. For a second, Sam lost control because of the mutagen in her system and for a split second she blacked out as she charged toward Tatsu who made note of this delay. Taking advantage of the moment, he knocked Sam's weapons out of her hand while also jabbing a kunai knife through Sam's hand as payback for earlier.  
"SAM!" the brother's called out.  
"Any last words?" Tatsu asked aloud as Sam was still stumbling a bit while grabbing her wrist from the pain.  
She then paused as all her veins shone bright blue. Sam then stared right at Tatsu and with a wickedly evil grin said "thanks for the knife."  
Sam dashed towards Tatsu, but she was much quicker than before. It was as if any and all previous injuries from the fight couldn't be felt, including where the knife was still in Sam's hand, which she was using to fight Tatsu WHILE it was still in her hand.  
She went to perform a move that was similar to that of a headlock, but she focused more so on digging the knife into the man's shoulder as she performed the move. Tatsu groaned out loud as she shoved his elbow in her side and tried to leap away, but Sam jabbed the knife into Tatsu's back as he went to jump away which now brought him crashing to the floor. Sam took advantage of this as she jumped on top of the man and pinned him to the floor as she now kneeled over top of him.  
"*punch* so, *punch* still think *punch* I can't kill?" Sam called out as she repeatedly punched Tatsu in the face.  
"Sam stop! Come on man you gotta move quicker!" Mikey called out as a young and shaky Professor Perry was finishing up in removing the handcuffs. Mikey could tell that Sam wasn't herself because of the mutagen and that she was about to do something that she knew she'd regret for the rest of her life.  
"You're…weak…you couldn't do this on your own…" Tatsu said, barely. His face had become more purple and blue than tan from the force of the punches. Blood was gushing out his nose and his lips were swollen.  
"At least I was brave enough to sacrifice my body to protect those I care about! *punch* I've used my body as a mutagen experiment in the honor of protecting my family *punch*"  
"Sam STOP!" Leo called out.  
"DON'T DO IT!" Mikey and Raph called out together.  
"…so weak…you can't kill…" Tatsu somehow managed to let slip out right before he passed out.  
Sam paused as she stared down at the man. Finally it was her time to bring some justice back to the world. This man was nothing but a serious criminal who fought only to please one sick man. Tatsu was just as sick as Shredder and would always bring nothing but harm to the world, so what would be the big deal in getting rid of him right here and now?  
Sam carefully removed the kunai knife from her hand and dropped it next to her as she quickly got out some bandage wraps from her bag and tied it around her hand (being able to do so since Tatsu couldn't move from the pain he was in). Once her hand was okay, she picked the knife back up and drew it back almost as if she was about to throw a spear.  
"You want me to show my strength? Don't worry, I won't make the same mistake as earlier. I'll use you…to avenge my family from what your clan has done." 

Sam went to smash the knife into the man's throat, but she couldn't since something was physically holding her back. Something was holding onto her so that she couldn't move her arm, and once she realized what was holding her back, she realized that it was more than just a physical barrier that was keeping her from killing the man on the ground in front of her. What was stopping her signaled that after everything that had happened since her joining the Foot wouldn't keep a strain on their friendship. What was stopping her was the realization that she was no longer alone and that she was being watched over and protected just like before the incident. What was stopping her was someone that was now holding her arm back to show that they cared for her enough to prevent her from making a huge mistake that she would never forget. What was stopping her was Raph. 

**Theme:  
Coldplay-Midnight  
Plumb-Don't Deserve You  
Linkin Park-The Little Things Give You Away  
**

The blue and black colors remained in Sam's eyes, but the color in her veins disappeared as she turned her head around and looked up at Raphael who was looking down at her, his arm still hooked through hers, with a sympathetic look on his face.  
"Put it down Sam, you're better than this" he said calmly.  
The knife slowly dropped out of Sam's hand as Raph slowly helped her stand up, though he wasn't expecting her to lunge forward and hug him in the process. Sam couldn't help herself from wrapping her arms around his waist. She was so shocked and filled with joy with what had just happened. Raph, whom she didn't believe she deserved any type of love and support from, had just stopped her from killing someone, not only for the honor of not killing someone who is no longer able to fight, but also in order to protect Sam from herself. He could have just ignored her like in the past, but on his own free will he chose to help her in a moment when she needed it most. 

She then looked up to see Leo and Donnie walking up to her with the same worried expression that Raph had had, and without thinking she quickly walked over towards both of them and swung her arms around each of them individually in the same way she had with Raph. She had done this so quickly that none of the three boys had gotten a chance to actually hug her back, though this was also due to their shock in Sam reacting this way, especially since in the weeks leading up to tonight both parties took part in trying to push the other one away, that and Sam had been avoiding them all throughout this night as well. 

After she hugged these two she then took a few steps forward as she saw Mikey walking over towards where the rest of the group was standing.

Sam was frozen solid as she stared down at the ground in front of her. She felt her hands starting to shake and she knew it had nothing to do with the mutagen within her system. She used her left hand to grab onto her right arm in order to try and hide the shakiness, but her body as a whole was very lightly shaking as well. She couldn't control this because she was so terrified to face Mikey. She had wronged him and his family and had abused the endless amounts of trust and support he had given her both before and after the incident. It pained her even more to think of him sleeping in her bed as he waited for her to return, of the way he stared at her earlier as he trusted his life in her hands like there had never been any tension between them, how he jumped in front of her and risked his life as he blocked her from all the oncoming bullets from their last group fight. After everything she had done to Mikey and his family, after the way she spoke to all of them, after almost possibly killing Raph, he had STILL been so worried about her and her well-being. How was she supposed to react to that?! She couldn't just go back to acting like things were normal, right? He deserved so much better than that, so much more in a friend and in a sister than that. And Sam, she didn't deserve to have him in her life. She had caused too much harm and stress to the turtles and specifically to Mikey to expect him to ever look at her and treat her the same. Sam had taken a breath and had finally lifted her head up to tell Mikey that she was going to go into hiding and disappear with her brother and forget about everything that had happened within tonight and the past few months, but she was interrupted from a set of arms wrapping themselves around her and pulling her in tight. 

No one could see it, but Sam's eyes were huge and wide as Mikey had walked over while she was distracted in her own thoughts and had pulled her into a tight hug. He couldn't wait any longer for her to come to him like she had to his brothers just seconds ago. Not only had he been chasing her all throughout his time in the headquarters building, but he had been waiting for her for weeks since he told her to leave the lair. Ever since that following day he had been waiting for her and waiting for his moment to go after and rescue his friend, so he wasn't letting her run away from him again. Sam didn't know how to react as she let her arms hang by her sides as she just stood still while being held by Michelangelo. How could he do this? How could he still care for her like this?! What had she done to deserve this?! 

"You don't have to do anything. It's okay, we all understand now" Mikey said with a soft voice.  
As Sam continued to just stand there and soak in what was happening to her, the other turtles had walked over and began adding their part of the apology.  
Raph was first. "I shouldn't have let my emotions get the best of me, and I regret everything I said about your family" he said softly, hating that he allowed himself to do something so cruel.  
Donnie was next. "We shouldn't have questioned your motives, and we should have trusted you from the beginning" he said with the same soft voice.  
Then came Leo. "We should have gone after you way sooner, and we should have tried to put the pieces together without having to be told the truth from someone else."  
"We shouldn't have let you leave to begin with. We're so sorry Sam, I'm sorry" Mikey said as he continued to hold his friend tightly. 

After hearing what the turtles said and how each of them had said it, Sam couldn't keep herself from throwing her arms around Mikey and following through with her part of the hug as the blue and black colors from her eyes faded so that her eyes were back to normal. They didn't hate her, they didn't want to get rid of her, and they still cared about her. Obviously things wouldn't go straight back to the way they were before everything bad had happened, but there was hope. There was a chance that they would still want to see her and hangout with her, there was a chance that she hadn't lost the people that brought happiness and 'normality' back into her life and that were her reason and motivation to keep living life and experiencing everything it had to offer. 

Mikey smiled as similar thoughts swirled through his head as he held his friend, but his smile soon faded as he felt something wet against his body. He loosened his arms some and saw light bits of red against him palms. He took a few steps back and held up his hands for the girl to see why he had backed away from her.  
"Sam…"  
"That's nothing!" she said quickly as she rapidly shook her head in embarrassment. She was already slowly returning to her old self.  
"Sam…what's wrong?" Mikey asked cautiously.  
"It's nothing I swear" she replied, making it known that she was hiding something.  
"Please don't lie anymore" Raph said softly. Sam turned towards him and could tell that he was saying this genuinely and that he didn't want there to be any more bad blood between them.  
"Alright" she groaned, "but none of you can freak out! Okay?" she asked as she began taking a few steps off to the side so that all the brothers could all see what she was about to do. Sam dropped the back pack she had secured to her and then unzipped the thin long sleeved black jacket she had been wearing. Her back was to the four turtles as she then removed her black short sleeved shirt and then peeled away the tight long sleeved black shirt that was under that so that now up top all she had on was a tight black sports bra that completely covered her chest so that nothing private was exposed. 

Mikey could only stare for a split second after seeing the girls back. It was covered in cuts and bruises to the point that you could barely see any of the white from her skin. Each of the many cuts was now bleeding since her body had been hurt from her multiple fights from that night. The cuts seemed like they were actually healing from what had been even worse gashes that were left all along her back. They also saw what seemed to be some burn marks on different spots on her back as well. Mikey quickly turned away, knowing that if he continued to stare at his friend like this then he would lose any and all sense of control that he had within himself not to just start attacking people and acting wildly. Raph bit his lip and Donnie reacted the same way as they felt guilt wash over them. They felt that this was all their fault since they had waited so long to want to come and save Sam. Would she have had to experience any of these wounds if they had come after her sooner? Leo closed his eyes as his mind went to darker areas. These were just the wounds she was exposing on her back. How many more wounds did she have on the outside of her body? Did she have any serious internal injuries? And what about…  
"Sam" Leo choked out, trying not to let emotion get the best of him, but terrified of what the answer would be. "Did you…did they…*sigh*." He was struggling to ask his question because of how hard it was for him just to consider if what he was afraid could have actually happened to the girl.  
Sam turned around to face him since she was confused in what he was asking, and she was shocked to see how each of the turtles looked right now. Mikey was still looking off in the distance, Raph and Donnie were looking down at the ground in guilt. Once the other three brothers sensed what Leo was asking, all four were staring wide eyed with fear towards Sam as they mentally prayed that she would say no.  
It took her a minute, but she finally realized that Leo was asking if she had been raped or molested in any way during her time with the Foot.  
"Oh, no! No! Don't worry that never happened I swear! I mean sadly that happens a few times amongst the Dragons because of how their group is handled and watched over, but that behavior doesn't go unnoticed within the Foot. Shredder is 50 shades of fucked up but to a certain degree he has honor, or at least enough not to let that happen. There was a guy who did that while I was here though and let's just say…well he's literally not alive anymore."  
Loud sighs of relief came from the boys as their expressions softened some.  
"Where did all these other wounds come from?" Donnie asked with concern.  
Sam shook her head as she began putting her t-shirt and jacket back on along with her back pack (the tight long sleeved undershirt was so drenched that it wasn't worth saving and was kicked to the side). "All that can wait for another time, right now we need to focus on the plan."  
At this time, Professor Perry had walked over and joined up with the group. At this same time, something had caught Raph's eye as he walked out of the room.  
"Hey, you alright doc?" Sam asked the professor to which he smiled at the nickname he was used to some of the teens calling him.  
"I'm alright. I'm glad to see that all of you are doing well" he said with a smile.  
"Thank you for your help" Donnie said to the man.  
"Well it was thanks to your tools that I was able to hack into their system, so thank you for allowing me to help you…"  
"Donatello" he replied with a smile.  
"Oh you'll like him doc, he's a Brainiac like you" Sam called over.  
"I can see that. It's a pleasure to meet all four of you" he said with a bit of excitement in his voice.  
Just then a voice came through the walkie talkie in Sam's pocket. She brought out the device as everyone heard a voice say _"Sam, if you're there, all nonfighters are out of the building. The only ones left are the Mutanimals with Perry, the turtles and you. Well, besides for any other soldiers your crew needs to wrangle up."  
_Sam clicked the button and said "we're working on getting these last few out. We'll send you updates soon." 

Just then, Raph and another voice could be heard shouting at each other from the room next door.  
"No" Sam whispered as she sprinted out of the training room and into a nearby doorway and saw Raph and the giant mutant alligator glaring each other down. They both looked like they were about to throw a punch at each other, at least, that was until Sam ran over and used what remained of her strength power to block both punches at the same time as she then pushed the two apart.  
"What the hell are you two doing?! You both were updated that the other was an ally!" she shouted.  
"He still has a collar on and started throwing punches at me when I walked over to see if he was okay!" Raph called out.  
Sam turned towards the alligator that towered over her.  
"Explain!"  
The gator hung his head in shame. "One of the mutagen capsules around my neck broke as I was helping round up the soldiers. It's slowly wearing off now, but it made me go a bit berserk. I'm terribly sorry" he said as he now looked back up at Raphael.  
"You have to learn to control yourself Leatherhead, you're better than the violent being Shred-head wants you to be" she said as she pulled his head down and rubbed the top of his long snout which definitely helped him in calming down. Mikey smiled and walked over as he joined in petting the gator, to which the gator looked up and smiled at the new turtle that stood in front of him.  
"And you" Sam said as she turned towards Raph (leaving Leatherhead and Mikey to get more acquainted which she would never admit that she thought it was extremely adorable). "What do you say?"  
Raph rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry for trying to fight you after you tried to hurt me."  
"What soldiers are you talking about?" Leo asked as he and the others now entered the room.  
"Oh Sachs was never alone," the professor cut in, "he had soldiers guarding this area the entire time."  
"That's why when we ran at Sam we each signaled as to which direction we wanted her to throw us in. It's a tactic that we all secretly worked on since we're the largest of the Mutanimals and could handle something like that, and she's the only one we could practice with thanks to the mutagen mixed with her sleeve device" Leatherhead added.  
"How does that work? How can you just simply give yourself mutagen and it not mutate you or anything?" Donnie asked Sam.  
"Shredder has been receiving shipments of all different types of mutagen. Each one is so unique and different from the others. Some have chemicals that can mix with peoples DNA in general, and some only match select people. Each one is extremely complicated and has been studied very carefully, and I found some that match me pretty well, but even if it matches with you, each individual person can only handle so much at one time without any type of side effect kicking in. With some people certain mutagen side effects never kick in no matter how much they use, and with others a side effect could kick in within seconds.  
"And you've been storing those capsules in your sleeve right? And I assumed two of your strongest matches have been able to give you wind and strength powers?" the brainy turtle asked.  
Sam nodded. "I missed your nerdiness" she said, receiving a small smile from the turtle. 

"Good job kid" came a voice from the doorway as Dogpound, carrying Sachs over his shoulder, and the other Mutanimals now entered the room.  
"You remembered our training even with the mutagen taking over, nice job" said the adult male turtle with a smile (which seemed out of character based on his looks).  
"Not gonna lie Slash, it took me a second to know whether or not you guys were on my side or not, but the cues helped me realize what was going on" Sam chuckled.  
"Here, these belong to you" the canine said as he and the larger turtle handed their new allies their weapons.  
Each of them thanked the larger mutants before Sam once again took the floor.  
"So update me on whatever news you have" Sam said as she clicked the button on her walkie talkie.  
Now it was the lioness who took the floor. "We rounded up all the soldiers and we're ready to take them outside where they'll wait for the cops to come find them. I'm not sure where Shredder is right now, but we can take the soldiers out while also leading the professor to safety."  
_"Alright Mutanimals thank you for your help. Once you get outside find the nearest man-hole cover and get below ground. There you'll find the other mutants and some rebel soldiers who will lead you to safety below ground."  
_"Wait, Jay?" Sam asked into the device.  
_"That's right! I'm at the parking garage across the street."  
_"Why are you still anywhere near this place? And wait, how do the Mutanimals already have a safe route?"  
_"That would be thanks to me" _said a familiar voice.  
"April?!" the four teen turtles said aloud.  
_"She's been our eyes on the streets and also helped us map out some spare locations below the sewers where our mutants can hide in safety" _Jay said.  
_"Sorry guys, but once I learned the truth about Sam and then learned that Irma was in the same boat then I had to find a way to help out, hehe" _April said through the link.  
"Please just be careful" Leo sighed, knowing there was nothing they could do at this point.  
_"Oh! There he is!" _Jay announced._ "Shredder is on the roof of your building! If you move quickly then you might be able to catch up to him!"  
_"Until next time guys" Sam said as she nodded towards the Mutanimals.  
"Be careful and take care of yourself" Leatherhead said to the girl as he put a hand on her shoulder, and then did the same to Michelangelo. It seemed that within minutes the two had already gotten along quite well and seemed to enjoy the others presence.  
"Kick ass kid!" the larger turtle said just before the group left the room with Leatherhead helping carry the professor to safety. 

"Alright guys, ready to end this party for good?" Sam asked with a grin.  
"It's about time!" Raph exclaimed.  
"Do we have a plan?" Donnie asked.  
"Knock Shredder off the side of the building, right?" Leo asked. "I think we can handle that."  
_"Ugh, guys. I have some bad news. Shredder has some type of device in his hand, and from what I remember seeing in the labs, it's a control for some of the bombs we were working on. I think he may have activated it and NO HE'S ESCAPING! I don't know where it connected but he used a grappling hook and is sliding down towards a different building. You guys probably have about 5 minutes so you need to move now!" _Jay shouted through his walkie talkie.  
"Sam, lead the way!" Leo instructed.  
Sam nodded her head as she sprinted out of the room. She made sure her bag was still attached to her as she led the turtles through the quickest stair wells and hallways that would reach the 15th floor.  
Donnie had set a timer and announced to the group that they had two minutes remaining before something would possibly blow up or detonate based on what Jay hold told them.  
They looked across the street where they saw Jay and April waving their arms on top of the parking garage. Donnie handed each brother a small hand-held grappling gun from his back pockets and they each launched the hook as they hooked onto the railing on the roof of the garage.  
Raph had just jumped from the roof and swung down and across to the other side of the street when four soldiers appeared out of nowhere, each wearing armor similar to what Shredder had worn when battling the turtles months ago.  
"Oh come on" Leo mumbled.  
"Guys no time! We're all going to die if we stay here, fight us later!" Sam shouted at the soldiers.  
"You idiot! The time to fight is now! Now is the time to show that we were the right choices for these prototype suits!" they took turns in shouting to Sam.  
"Okay great Shredder used you to practice setting up an armored army I know about that AWESOME. Now let's go so we can live and fight later!" she called out to them.  
"You fool, the time to fight is now! We don't care if we die here, as long as we please Sensei then our deaths will be worth the honor!"  
Just then Mikey dropped his gun as he threw shuriken stars and then ran forward, using his nunchuks to fight and push back one of the soldiers as he tumbled into the other three.  
"NO! You need to leave now!" Sam said as she pushed him backwards away from the fight. That fast the soldiers were rushing towards them as Sam activated something in her sleeve.  
"20 seconds!" Donnie shouted.  
"You guys go! If the building comes down then I have a way out. Go now!" Sam shouted as she started blocking and throwing punches at the soldiers.  
Mikey would have stayed if it weren't for the look in the girl's eyes that begged him to trust what she said as she fought the four men in front of her.  
He loathed that there was nothing he could do as Mikey walked towards his brothers. He grabbed onto Leo and the remaining three swung over and down towards the garage. That's when Sam heard a boom as the entire building shook. 

Sam struggled as the four men towered over top of her and continued to throw punches at her while she blocked her face with her arms. She was in a great deal of pain since she was trying to conceal her gloves powers and was basically being hit over and over by the men on top of her…until the roof began to crumble. Hey eyes turned blue and black as she used as much force as she could to kick one of the men off of her just as the ground beneath her fell. That was one soldier gone, but the other three were still there as all four of them were now falling. Sam grabbed a kunai knife from her pocket and dug it down one of the men's armor which sent a shock throughout the suit and knocked him out. The other two men grabbed her arms, but Sam then sent a huge gust of air from her palms. This startled the men as they let her go, and before they could react, Sam kicked her legs up into a split in the air, kicking both men far away from her. Now that she was free from having to fight, she could focus on escaping. 

Sam aimed her palms downwards as she rocketed herself back up into the sky. As she traveled upwards she twisted and turned to dodge the huge chunks of debris that came from the building. Because only the part of the roof she had been laying on fell before the rest of it, there was still a tall part of the building that was continuously crumbling away. Sam tried to travel straight up as best as she could with the power that she had left, but she also knew that if she used this power for too long then it would eventually give out and she would be falling down along with all the debris. 

Since Sam was fighting to escape from the crumbling building she hadn't realized that everyone else across the street had thought ahead and was trying to help her as much as they possibly could with her escape. Jay had known that the railway was completely connected underneath the concrete ledge at the top of the building and had informed the turtles that if they could find a way to pull the railway up as a whole then they could have it stretch out as far as possible so that Sam could use it as a last resort to balance on and walk across. He knew from watching Sam train that her powers only lasted for so long and that she might need help if they ran out to early. Of course, Donatello had some tools that allowed them to quickly break away the concrete (which was also due to the turtles being much stronger than the average human) and after they had dug and broke down so much altogether along different part of the rail, they pulled up so that it stayed together at the bottom but now could be pushed outward in a solid straight line.  
"There she is!" April called out.  
Everyone looked up as they saw Sam finally reach where the top of the debris was and fly outward. Just as Jay predicted, the blue and black disappeared from Sam's eyes as she dropped down way before she would have been able to reach the garage, but thanks to the extended railway she wasn't falling to her doom. She clung onto the rail for dear life, trying her best not to look down as she did so.  
"Ohhhhh here comes the fun part" Jay muttered.  
"What's wrong?" Leo asked.  
"Sam's terrified of heights. Well, falling from them for that matter."  
"How? She's run with us along higher up places that were even further apart!" Raph exclaimed.  
"Yeah, but I'm sure she was either A. with other people or B. there was something that helped her travel or there were other things to grab onto. Right now she's stranded out there with nothing to hold onto except for the tiny rail beneath her feet" Jay said.  
"So what do we do?" Leo asked. He never knew that Sam had this fear and tried to think back to times where they faced situations similar to this and what was done that kept calm.  
"Don't worry, I got this" Mikey said with confidence as he then climbed up on top of the rail where it was still connected to the roof of the garage.  
"What are you doing?!" Jay asked aloud.  
"Hey Sam!" Mikey called out as he began walking out along the beam, "I have Attack On Titan spoilers!"  
Sam quickly looked up at him as she clung to the beam. Her chest was literally on the beam as her legs and arms were wrapped around the bottom part.  
"If you reveal one detail then I'll kick your ass!" she called over to him.  
"I know what's happening to Tatsumi to!"  
"DO NOT reveal Akame! Ga Kill spoilers either! You know I haven't been watching any of my favorite shows! Not that, not Kill la Kill, not One Punch Man or Naruto, NOTHING! So hush!"  
"I've also seen concept photos of BTS for their War of Hormone music video. You'll never guess what color Rapmonster's hair is" he said in animated and teasing voices.  
"Don't tell me!"  
"It's pink."  
"You dick!"  
"If you don't want me to reveal all the other hair changes then you have to walk this way."  
Sam groaned. "I can'ttttttt."  
"Why not?"  
"Because I'll die!"  
"Pshhh, no you won't!"  
"Yes I will!"  
"You'll die if you look down."  
She tilted her head to the side. "Thanks…" she said dryly.  
He smiled at her as he continued to slowly walk closer to where she was standing. "That means you just have to keep looking up at me. That or I'll keep revealing details about things you've been missing out on" Mikey teased. "Want to know how Guardians of the Galaxy ends? Since the day Donnie streamed it, it cut out at the end."  
Sam slowly started to try and stand up on the beam. "Happy? I'm standing up" she said as she held her hands out to sides to help her keep her balance.  
"Great! Now start walking" Mikey commanded. "Or else I'll tell you what happens to Groot."  
Sam's eyes that were focused on the ground below were now focused on the turtle in front of her as her entire head shot up. "Not my boy!"  
"Oh something happens to him, and I know what it is" Mikey said as he took a step backwards along the beam.  
"No I need to see it!" Sam said as she carefully took a step. "He doesn't die right?"  
"Well I know the answer to that, and if you join me over here then I can tell you!"  
Just then Sam slipped. She was able to fix her footing in time and prevent herself from falling, but now her eyes were glued to the ground as her mind focused on the fact that it was a looooong way down to the bottom if she were to fall. Sam started panicking again as her thoughts were consumed by the fact that there was nothing but this thin and tiny little beam that she was walking on and that if she slipped just a little too far to the side then it was goodbye Sam as she fell to her doom.  
"Sam, look at me" Mikey said. He called out loud enough to get Sam's attention, but he still did so gently.  
Sam looked up her friend who shot her a sympathetic look.  
"You're going to be fine. Just stay focused, okay? The beam is plenty wide enough for you to walk on it. My feet are bigger than yours and I'm walking just fine!" he said as he took another step backwards.  
Sam nodded her head. "So what else have you watched?"  
"Dawn For the Planet of the Apes."  
"Ha! I've already seen that one!"  
"How about the latest episodes of the Walking Dead?"  
"I hate you!" 

As the two continued to make their way across the beam, Jay just stood there in shock.  
"Wow…he's actually distracting her…" he stated aloud.  
"They don't call each other best friends just for the fun of it" April said with a smile.  
"Yeah, it's just the first time that I'm actually seeing it up close" he said in amazement.  
"Welcome to our world man" Raph teased.  
"Guys, we have company" Donnie said as he turned his head to the left.  
The others did the same as they watched some soldiers climbing up the side of the building using climbing claws. They then saw a few of them pull something out of the pouches along their chest as Leo feared for the worst.  
"MIKEY WATCH OUT!" he called out, but by then it was too late. 

As Sam continued to stare at Mikey as the two walked across the beam, she saw something pierce Mikey. A shuriken star was now sticking out from his left shoulder as another star just grazed past his right calf. Sadly he couldn't help it that he winced from the pain as he then lost his balance and fell to his right and off the beam.  
"Hang on Mikey!" Leo called out as he then leaped over the edge and caught his brother in his arms (luckily Mikey had moved far enough back that he was within reach of his older brother). Donnie then jumped over the edge and grabbed onto his brothers feet as Raph then leaped over and held onto one of Donnie's legs. Because of the angle that Mikey had fallen in, each of the brothers had jumped at a point where they were just a hair too far from being able to grab onto the rail. Raph just missed the bar as he feared that they were all now about to fall to the ground. He was expecting to see his life flash before his eyes as they all journeyed downward, but something unexpected happened.  
While the brothers were all leaping off the roof to grab onto Mikey, Sam had quickly activated some mutagen capsules within her sleeve and had injected them into her veins. She did this as she sprinted along the beam, the adrenaline from needing to save her friends overriding her senses and making her forget where she was as she ran, and then leaped down right along the side of the beam so that her right hand gripped onto the beam as her left hand reached Raph's hand just in time. Once again, her eyes changed color, except this time both her eyes had gone completely blue since this time she activated only the mutagen that provided strength. 

The veins in the girl's arms were bulging as she held onto the beam and also onto Raph. The combined weight of the four turtles was, well, a lot! Sam was struggling to hold onto the bar and keep both the others and herself from falling to the ground that was very far down from where they were.  
"Sam! Can you swing us?" Raph asked aloud.  
Sam fought her hardest to start swinging her body from side to side. It took a few moments, but with the help of the brothers in trying their best to move their bodies along with the momentum, Sam called out in pain as she was finally able to swing the guys up high enough that each of them was able to angle their bodies to where they would land on the roof of the garage.  
"SAM!" Jay screamed as he saw his sister's eyes begin to close. Sam was DEFINETLY pushing her powers to limits that she had never pushed them to before during trainings and it was all taking a huge toll on her body. In this case, going from the long time that she used the wind power and now pushing her strength to new limits had pushed a limit as she felt her eyes grow heavy as she passed out on the spot. Her eyes closed, her hand unintentionally loosened its grip from the beam, and Sam began to fall, but she didn't get far. Even before Raph had landed on the roof he had twisted his body so that he was able to see Sam begin to fall and instantly he threw a kunai knife that dug into the fabric of the hood on her sweatshirt and pinned her to the wall.

Jay let out a huge sigh of relief as he saw his sister stay put in her spot along the wall.  
"I owe you, so freaking much. All of you. Holy shit my chest hurts" Jay said as he tried to calm himself down.  
"I wouldn't thank anyone just yet" came a low and raspy voice from behind the group.  
Everyone deadpanned as they saw Shredder standing there with about 20 Foot soldiers behind him.  
"Who are they?" Jay asked in a low tone as he glared at the man who was now in front of him.  
"Humph, did you actually think I would keep all my soldiers in that one building? I kept 95% of them there, but I would never keep everyone within that building. If I had done that, then you would have gotten away with what you did to me tonight."  
"So you had tricks up your sleeve all along" Jay hissed.  
"Of course. Creating a clan the way I was, I knew that eventually someone would try to pull a stunt like this, so I had some of my best soldiers hiding elsewhere. None of the rebels have ever met with the men standing behind me, so no matter what not all of you could turn against me because you didn't even know who everyone was" Shredder said with confidence in his dark tone.  
"Now, to finish the job. Hajime!" Shredder announced as the soldiers behind him ran forward to attack the rebels.  
Raph helped guard April as everyone else dispersed and move to different spots of the roof to try and break up the group of soldiers that they had to fight. Normally a group of thirty soldiers wasn't too much of a challenge, but this fight was different. The soldiers weren't fighting with regular weapons, but rather with the mutagen weapons that were prepared for taking over the city that night. This made things ten times more difficult for the turtles since they weren't exactly sure what the mutagen from each weapon did. They had no idea what damages each chemical would cause which made it difficult to attack offensively. Raph and Leo's opponents had flails with mutagen that oozed out through tiny openings where the spikes were, so these two had to block more so than attack since a regular blow from the weapon would cause more damage than usual. Donnie was being chased by some ninjas who had mutagen filled arrows and Mikey was fighting off some ninjas who had more electric whips (apparently powered by mutagen as well) as he used his nunchuks to deflect each shot aimed at him. Jay was fighting with his metal tekko that wrapped around his fists and had three short blades on them. He was holding his own until suddenly Shredder had walked over towards where he was standing and had grabbed him by the neck while he was distracted. Shredder then threw Jay to the ground, and before Jay could react in any way, Shredder had picked up and threw him down again. This pattern continued on until April couldn't stand to just hang back while Jay's body was being smashed into the ground and while everyone else she cared about was fighting a no-win fight as well.  
"SHREDDER!" she shrieked, revealing where Raph had tried to hide her as the fights went on. Now that April was in the open, she was vulnerable and could easily be attacked at any moment. This got everybody on the rooftops attention as everyone paused their fight and looked back and forth between April and Shredder who was holding a bruised Jay Allan Park within his grip. Shredder's armor was much simpler compared to what he had worn months ago, but because Jay had been caught off guard he wasn't able to gain his chance in actually fighting Shredder which was why Shredder had his hand around the man's neck at this very moment.  
"O'Neil…get over here" Shredder commanded. A soldier then walked her over to the leader as the turtles watched with wide eyes, terrified that he would do something rash at any moment.  
Shredder then threw Jay across the roof as his body slammed into the small wall where the door to the roof was.  
April stared up at the man in anger, pissed that he could treat someone so kind the way he had and for the most ridiculous reasons. "What do you want?" she snarled.  
He shot her an evil grin. "I want the turtles to get on their knees. NOW."  
Each of the turtles did as they were instructed, knowing that failing to listen to demands could lead to the death of either April or Jay.  
"Heh, you all are so foolish. I'll give you props for trying, but it doesn't matter since this will be the end for all of you."  
Soldiers quickly surrounded the turtles and Jay who were now all on the ground. Each one had a weapon aimed at their opponent, waiting for the moment that their leader instructed them to shoot or slice.  
Shredder then pulled out a kunai knife and held it up to April's neck as he held her close to him.  
"If only you all used your head and willingly joined the Foot. Each of you has potential, but you're all too stupid to realize what you could be and instead try to fight me. I've been kind to each of you for too long, so this…this is our official last goodb-"  
Shredder was cut off as he heard a noise come from behind him. As he turned around he saw a weak and tired Sam taking her time as she was crawling over the ledge and onto the roof. Shredder made an annoyed face as he threw April down and commanded a soldier to watch over her as he now made his way towards where Sam was. She had been using climbing claws to reach her destination, but Shredder had ripped them away from her as he pulled her upward by her wrists and then dropped her on her back in front of him.  
Shredder then picked up the girl by the front of her shirt. "I'm not one for playing old school, but I have some messages for you" he said as he then punched her in the face. "That one is from Karai." He punched her again, "that one is from Hun.  
"YOU BASTARD!" Jay screamed out in anger as he rushed to stand up and charge forward. "LEAVE HER ALONE!"  
Shredder nodded his head as a group of free soldiers rushed and piled onto Jay. One kicked him in the side and Jay was officially down on the ground, but still struggling.  
The villain then threw Sam to the ground. "That one is from Sachs."  
"STOP IT!" Jay continued to scream out. He fought to stand up, only to be kicked down on the ground each time. A soldier then sat on the man's back as he held his head back by his hair and then held a knife up to his neck.  
April was in tears from what she watching, and the turtles weren't far from that same state. Mikey had his hands on the sides of his head as he tried to keep calm while the rest of his brothers were clenching their fists as they tried to do the same. They wanted to run forward and help Sam, but doing so could easily be the reason that Shredder slit her throat on the spot, and he could easily have the same thing done to April or Jay based on the positions they were in. There was literally nothing they could do but kneel here and watch as those that they cared about were beaten around like punching bags.  
Shredder dropped Sam to the ground for the last time as he then began to walk over towards Jay. "I've let you live for way too long, time to end that" he said as he extended the blade on his arm some.  
"*cough, cough* leave him. I'm the one you want. I've been playing you since day one. *cough*" Sam mumbled out.  
Shredder paused and eventually turned around and walked back over towards the girl.  
"You're right" he said as he placed a foot over top Sam's chest. "I was kind enough to let you live four years ago, and what do you do in return? You try to destroy everything I've spent years building up. Everything that was in that building was thanks to my hard work, and within a few hours you managed to crush it, literally." He then began to apply more pressure as he pushed his foot further down on the girl's chest. "I'm not going to be so kind to you and your idiot brother anymore, starting now. I'm going to send you the message that Tatsu was supposed to send you earlier. Any last words?"  
Sam looked up at him and gave a small, weak smile.  
"Your soldiers must really like me or something" she choked out, trying to catch her breath as she spoke.  
Shredder glared down at her. "What?" he growled.  
"APRIL!"  
Just like Sam had stated, all the soldiers had been looking at her while Shredder had been hurting her, and because of this, April's guard hadn't realized that there was a small hand-held tessen in her pocket. Jay had informed his sister the day previous that he had prepared the weapon for April in case she would need to defend herself, and now proved that Jay had made an excellent decision in doing so as the woman quickly grabbed her weapon, jabbed the hand from the soldier behind her, and then launched the weapon at Shredder, doing so at such speed that none of the other soldiers were able to react and attack their hostages in front of them. It pierced into the back of his armor, leading him to take a quick step back, and as soon as he did this, Sam's eyes went blue and black as she swiftly pulled another knife from her pocket and slammed it with all her mutagenic force down through Shredder's foot. 

The man called out in pain as his foot was now stuck to the ground, and that fast Sam stood up and punched him in the face. The main goal was just too momentarily escape, and one punch was enough to do that. She also grabbed the fan from his back and launched it at the soldier that was about to hurt April. It cut into his shoulder, and within the second that he winced in pain, April threw a punch and hit him right in the forehead. It hurt her hand all the way down to her arm, but it hurt way less than it would thanks to the guys teaching her how to throw a solid punch. 

While this was going on, the boys were all making their escape as well. When Sam had made her move and pinned Shredder's foot to the ground, each of the turtles and Jay took advantage of the stunned soldiers around them. They each quickly knocked the mutagen weapons out of the hands of the soldiers so that they had either broken or had slid away from their holders.  
"NEW PLAN! KEEP THE SOLDIERS AWAY FROM THOSE WEAPONS!" Leo called out. As long as the soldiers couldn't reach their high-teach weapons, then they had to fight with regular ones, and that made a hell of a difference.  
Jay was able to flip the soldier off his back and once he was free, he quickly charged towards Shredder. 

Now was when the true battle began. 

***Leo, Raph, Jay, and April POV*  
**

Raph quickly ran back over to where April was standing as he tried his best to defend her, but now that she had her tessen out she at least had something to help her defend herself if need be.  
Soldiers came barreling towards him, and quickly he came up with a plan. Raph fought defensively so that as soldiers came charging towards him he could try to flip them over his shoulder. He moved up some so that there was a decent amount of space between him and April. This way, when soldiers were tossed backwards, April could land a final blow as she kicked each soldier that landed in front of her.  
"Atta girl!" Raph shouted back to her, proud of the woman who wasn't usually much of a fighter yet was now kicking some major ass. 

Leo was fighting off some soldiers (the numbers dwindling quickly now that they could all truly fight their enemies) but stopped once he saw Jay trying his best to fight Shredder on his own. Jay was actually a pretty skilled fighter. He was quick on his feet and was able to dodge each of the Shredder's attacks, but it was obvious that he needed some help in being able to land an attack of his own. Leo rushed over and did his best to aide Jay in his battle. As Jay was pushed backwards, Leo ran around him and quickly brought his katana down against the blades on Shredder's arm. Just as Shredder swung his other arm around to pierce Leo, the turtle had ducked down which now left Shredder open as he was leaning forward into his attack. Jay quickly ran forward and landed a solid punch with his tekko against the man's mask, making a small dent as he did so. 

Shredder was a bit taken aback from this attack. "Heh, good job Jay, but you're not good enough."  
Shredder then spun around so fast that Jay was caught off guard as he was kicked in the side and knocked over. Shredder then went to slice his bladed arm down on Jay's face, but Leo cut in and used his katanas to block the attack. As he pulled upwards and brought the Shredder's blades with him, Jay got to his feet and pushed forward as he tried to knock the Shredder off his balance and have him tumble backwards, but Shredder had moved just a second faster and twisted to the side and used Jay's momentum against him as he then grabbed the neck of Jay's shirt as he ran past him, quickly pulled him back, and then brought his elbow down against Jay's chest. As Shredder turned back to face Leo, the turtle was now rushing forward as he used his shoulder to push Shredder backwards. The metal man would have been able to dodge this attack if it weren't for Jay (who was now laying on the ground after being elbowed in the chest) who jabbed the tekko on his hand into Shredder's calf, and as the villain was caught off guard, Leo shoved him backwards as he tumbled off the side of the building now that there was no rail to block his fall. Leo and Jay watched over the side as they watched their enemy fall. 

They watched as Shredder flipped open a part of his wrist guard and pressed a button. Suddenly, the man's armor extended along his back so that it was now much thicker like his original suit from months ago. This helped aide his fall as he landed in a parked trash truck on the street, but there was no way he was standing up any time soon after that fall. 

Raph and April soon finished up with their group of soldiers and then joined Leo and Jay in looking over the edge and making sure that Shredder wasn't moving from his spot.  
Once he felt that it was safe to look away, Leo turned to Jay.  
"You okay? You took some harsh blows back there."  
Jay turned to smile at the turtle. "Ehhhh I'm definitely going to be sore in the morning, but I'll be fine since I had you helping me. Thank you." Jay then turned towards April. "You're welcome for that by the way" he said playfully as he pointed to the tessen.  
"So, does this mean we get to train the Hogosha?" Leo teased. April was about to respond to him, but she was cut off by Raph.  
"Uhhh guys? Why is Donnie kissing Sam?" he asked in a confused manner.  
All heads turned towards the opposite side of the roof where Sam was lying on her back while Donnie leaned over her with their lips touching.  
"No…" Jay said softly.  
"That's not kissing, that's CPR" Leo stated as his eyes went wide, and all four of them quickly rushed over to find out what the heck was going on. 

***SAM, MIKEY, DONNIE POV*  
**

Now that Donnie didn't have to dodge mutagen filled arrows, it was much easier for him to fight offensively, and he was loving it. He used his speed to maneuver his way throughout the crowd of soldiers as he used his bo staff to hit various soldiers as he ran. He was now feeling such an adrenaline rush since he and his family now had the upper hand that he was moving faster than ever before. 

Mikey now felt the same way, especially since Sam was now safely fighting by his side. He could tell that she was trying to conserve her powers for the moments when she truly needed them as she fought on with her tonfa. Mikey sensed that there were some soldiers who were trying to escape, so he quickly jolted his right nunchuk in a way that triggered a blade connected by a chain to come out from side, turning the weapon into a chain sickle. He ran after the escapees and swung the chain so that it bound three soldiers together and made them tumble to their feet. By the time they were beginning to untangle themselves and stand up, Mikey had already reached their spot and was now fighting them. 

Sam was still in her original spot as she used her tonfa to block attacks from the many soldiers that were now surrounding her. As she was fighting off the many soldiers in front of her, in her peripheral vision she saw one soldier who was hiding off in the distance by himself. Sam flipped one of her opponents over her shoulder and then threw him onto two other nearby soldiers so that she could watch the sneaky man from far off for a few seconds. What she saw was that the soldier had picked up one of the electric whips and was now heading towards Mikey's direction. Sam began to mentally panic as she continued to fight the soldiers in front of her. She knew that if the man used the highest setting on the whip then one blow would lead to a quick death. She fought her hardest to knock out or even to at least push away the soldiers that were surrounding her, and in a final act of desperation her eyes went blue as a tremendous gust of wind came from her entire body, and the force from the wind sent each soldier flying and flailing backwards. She felt a bit weak, but as quickly as she could she rushed over towards where Mikey was standing. He only had about four more soldiers left in front of him, but his back side was completely open. 

Sam ran as fast as she could. Her worst fear was about to come true, that her loved ones would get seriously injured because of her, and she couldn't let that happen. Mikey had displayed his love for his sister in so many ways: defending her when his brothers still wanted nothing to do with her in the beginning, being patient in waiting for Sam to talk about her horrid past, waiting in her room for her even after he had told her to stay away, maintaining eye contact and trust when she froze the whip, risking his body to block her when bullets were shot at her, hugging her and comforting her when she was too afraid to speak or even look at him, and just recently walking out across the thin railway in order to help her make her way across to the safety of the roof. Mikey had always been there for her and Sam wouldn't let ANYTHING happen to him, even if it risked her life, and that's exactly what she did. 

In order to save the greatest thing that had ever happened to her, Sam ran and pushed Mikey out of the way as the electric whip was about to land on his back as it now hit Sam right in the middle of her chest.  
Mikey had just defeated his four soldiers right before he was pushed, and now his face was filled with fear as he saw Sam get hit behind him.  
"SAM!" he called out as he ran over to the soldier who was still holding the whip, and bashed his fist against his face.  
Donnie had just finished up with his fight and had just seen Sam get hit with the whip as her body now went limp and fell into Mikey's arms. She fought to move her arms, but it was obvious that she had absolutely no control over her body any longer.  
"Only…you know the word…to save me…" was all Sam was able to mumble as she started shaking in Mikey's arms. Donnie then joined the two of them and took hold of Sam.  
"Mikey, do you remember what an AED is?"  
"Yeah, inside?" Mikey asked.  
Donnie nodded and Mikey took off towards the doorway in search of an AED somewhere inside. 

**Theme:  
Seven Lions x Illenium x Said The Sky-Rush Over Me (feat. HALIENE) (literally this song makes me tear up when I read this part)  
Epik High-Spoiler  
Linkin Park-Leave Out All the Rest  
**

Donnie quickly and carefully laid Sam down flat on her back as he removed her jacket so that now she was only wearing her thin black t-shirt.  
He checked her pulse…and realized that there was nothing there.  
He then fixed his hands and began pressing down on Sam's sternum as he began CPR. Donnie was trying to stay calm. He knew what he was doing, but obviously completing CPR in a real situation was different from training and learning the process, and knowing that Sam was basically lying there dead in front of him was making him mentally go insane.  
After 30 compressions, Donnie tilted Sam's head back, opened her mouth, and put his lips over top hers as he checked and made sure he saw her chest go up as he gave her two breaths. 

***Back to everyone's POV*  
**

"What's happening?!" Jay exclaimed as he was now kneeling right beside Sam's head.  
Leo and Raph were now kneeling across from Donnie as April kneeled down next to him.  
"Her eyes…" April said as she cupped her hands over her mouth as she felt tears start trickling down her cheeks. Sam's eyes were still open, but they were dull and dry. At this moment everyone realized that Sam was already gone and that Donnie was fighting to bring her back.  
"No…" Raph muttered softly.  
"Donnie?" Leo choked out.  
"She was hit by one of those electric whips" Donnie said frantically while completing compressions.  
Jay was now the same as April as he had tears streaming down his face as he watched Donatello fight to bring life back into his sister's body.  
"DON!" Mikey called out as he threw a small blue pack towards his brother.  
Donnie scrambled to get the patches of the AED set up as Jay lifted Sam's shirt up so that the patches could be correctly placed as soon as possible.  
"Clear!" Donnie called out as he pressed the button that sent the shock throughout Sam's body.  
April jumped some as she saw the girl's body lift up some from the shock. 

They all waited for movement…only for nothing to happen at all.  
"Again" Jay whispered.  
"Clear" Donnie said as he pressed the button once more.  
Sam gasped for air as some life came back to her eyes. She was able to lift her head up off the ground some which was also a bodily reaction from the shock. From right to left around her was Donnie, April, Mikey, Raph, Leo, and then Jay behind her. Sam could feel her body fading away from her, almost as if she was falling into the floor, and she knew her time would be up soon. Knowing these were her last moments, Sam couldn't help but smile. All around her were the most important people in her life. She was able to make up with the turtles after all the horrible things that happened between them and in these moments their faces showed how much they truly cared about her. She had them and April who had all become her new extended family and were some of the main reasons that she was able to live life again and not just exist from day to day. And then there was Jay, the one piece from her past that made her want to live for the future. She wanted nothing more than to keep him out of harm's way and know that he was safe, and now she knew that he could live his life the way he wanted to since the Foot clan had been broken up. 

Sam smiled as these final thoughts swirled around in her head. She was grateful that the final images she would see were the faces of those closest to her, and she prayed that even though she was passing now, that none of them would join her anytime soon and would live long lives instead. She would have loved to been with all of them longer, but her time was now. Her eyes began to close and the smile on her face fell some as she lost control of her body, and within seconds, Sam had passed on. 

Jay was sobbing out loud as he cupped his hands around his sister's face. He was now officially alone as his final family member passed away in front of him.  
Donnie covered his eyes with his hands, knowing that tears were about to start streaming from his eyes very soon.  
April already had tear covered cheeks as she grabbed onto Donnie's arm, providing comfort for both him and herself.  
Raph stood up and walked away so that when the tears started streaming down his face, no one would see it.  
Leo fought to catch his breath as he continued to stare down at Sam's body. He kept waiting for her to move, for all this to be fake…but she just continued to lie there, and the mix of sadness and horror that he felt from what he had just witnessed made him feel like there was a lump in his throat.  
Mikey just sat there in disbelief. His best friend, the one that he had cried each night over as he waited for the moment when he would finally get to talk to her again, was motionless and limp in front of him. He kept thinking of something he could do, but there's nothing that could be done to save someone once they had died, right? He kept replaying her words over and over in his head. A word that could save her, what could that mean?! How would that even work? He started clenching his fists together as he struggled to understand what his friend meant and he knew that if he didn't figure it out soon then she would truly be gone for good. 

That's when it finally clicked in. A word that only he heard, that only he would know to think of. As soon as the word entered his thoughts then he knew that it had to be what she was talking about. "Cowabunga" he said softly. 

Heads snapped as everyone was now glaring over at Mikey.  
Leo closed his eyes in annoyance, trying to pretend that he didn't hear his brother say what he thought he did, but Raph proved this otherwise.  
"ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH Y-" he bellowed until her heard a small noise go off. 

Everyone was silent as they heard some whirring sounds, almost like a machine was being put to use.  
_"Voice recognition-"it's your boy Michelangeloooo"-confirmed. Password: Cowabunga, accepted. Injecting mutagen now" _came a programmed voice from Sam's sleeve.  
Suddenly, the veins throughout Sam's body lit up as mutagen traveled through them. The mutagen was dispersed from her right arm and gradually traveled all throughout her body. As the mutagen worked through its course, the girl's body began to glow more and more, signaling that the mutagen was moving successfully through each vein. 

Everyone had backed away and given Sam some space, not sure exactly what to do since none of them knew exactly what was going on, except for Donnie who had a strong guess.  
"This must have been her last resort, to transform her body if that's what was needed to happen" Donnie stated in awe.  
Jay stared down at his sister in astonishment, and then looked over at Mikey.  
"She must have had a voice recording from her phone…but how did you know?" he asked.  
"She knew that Raph hated when I said it, so I only said it in front of her" Mikey mumbled.  
Jay continued to stare at Mikey for a few seconds as he noticed just how upset the turtle was. He knew that all four of the turtles and April were just as upset as Jay was with this entire situation, but he sensed that there was something different as he stared at Mikey who never stopped looking at Sam. Jay then turned back towards his sister as the mutagen had almost filled every vein in her body. The mutagen continued to light up and travel until finally the mutagen reached her heart and brain simultaneously. As soon as the blue had barely even touched these organs, Sam's eyes shot open. Just like when she used smaller doses of the mutagen before, her eyes had black where white should be. And her iris and pupil shone bright blue instead of brown. 

Everyone was so shocked about what they were seeing that they were caught completely off guard when a huge gust of wind shot from Sam's body. The gusts were so strong that the turtles went and hid behind where the entry way to the roof was. Raph and Mikey had grabbed onto April while Donnie and Leo had grabbed onto Jay so that they, being the weakest of the group, would not fly away with the powerful wind. As they looked back over at Sam as they made their way to their hiding spot, they saw that she had sat up at some point within those past few seconds of them looking away, but she wasn't calm. Sam was on her knees with her hands tightly holding onto the sides of her head. It looked as if she was in agonizing pain, but no one knew what exactly what going on or how to handle what they were seeing. 

"Either of you have any idea what's going on?!" Leo shouted to Jay and Donnie since the gusts were making it harder to hear.  
All heads turned as they heard Sam start shrieking non-stop as she continued to stay in her kneeling position.  
Jay started crying again as he witnessed his sister's agony.  
"She's NEVER used that much mutagen before! I know which two matched her DNA extremely well and she probably used those, but I don't know how to handle what's happening because neither she nor anyone else has tested that much of either on anyone! And I was never in the labs so I never studied them the way she did!" Jay shouted through sobs.  
Donnie was about to speak, but that's when he realized the screaming had stopped. Leo, Raph, Donnie, April and Jay all looked over and saw Sam standing on her own two feet as she just stared at the group from where they were hiding. At first she just stared at them, but within seconds her simple stare turned into a furious death glare.  
"What's happening?" April asked in a panic.  
"No one knows what this amount of either mutagen, alone or combined, can do to any person. It could have been a bad match…oh no…"  
"Come on Sam, pull through it, we can't fight you" Leo said softly as he began to clench his fists as he mentally blamed Shredder for all everything that was happening.  
"Uhhhh guys?!" Raph exclaimed.  
Sam was begining to walk over towards where the group was standing, and she did not look happy. Whether the mutagen had changed her mind, whether it lead her to be controlled by someone or something else, whatever the infinite possibilities of what was going on, Sam looked as if she was ready to bash heads in.  
The guys began reaching for their weapons, though they knew they would never harm Sam, but they could at least defend themselves.

Everyone was terrified as Sam got closer and closer to the group, everyone except for Michelangelo of course. Without anyone realizing it, Mikey had slowly and quietly moved from his spot with the group and had been hanging from the side of the building so that no one would notice him, and as soon as he saw Sam start marching over towards his family, he swung himself back up and ran behind her. He hooked his left leg around both of hers as he placed his left foot on top of hers and then used his right leg to squish her legs together and then placed his right foot over top of hers. He then pulled both of her arms back and closed his left hand over top of her wrists as he wrapped his right arm around her chest, squishing her arms to her sides in the process. Of course Sam reacted negatively to this as her screams got louder, but Mikey wasn't ready to give up anytime soon.  
"Sam!" he called out to her, "I know you can hear me! I don't know what's happening to you, but I know that you set all this up for a reason, so fight it! Fight off whatever is hurting you!"  
Sam tried thrashing around in the turtles grasp, but she seemed quite weak. Mikey guessed that either her body couldn't handle the mutagen's powers, or that her mind was so lost from the chemical that she couldn't truly control herself, hence why her thrashing around wasn't as difficult to handle as he had expected.  
Mikey then pulled her upwards so that her head was right in front of his. He leaned in towards her ear and whispered "It doesn't matter what you do, you'll never be able to get rid of me ever again. My family and I are with you until the end Sam, so stop trying to push us away and just let us in. I'm never letting you go Sam, none of us are…" 

Maybe it was his words, maybe this was just the right amount of time for the chemicals to spread out and for her body to adjust, but Sam grew weak only moments after Mikey spoke kind words. Her body went limp and her eyes closed. She would have fallen face first onto the ground if it weren't for the fact that someone was holding her with both their arms at that current moment.  
He gently flipped the girl around so that as he held her in his arms, his face was now looking down at hers. He kept waiting for some type of sign as to whether his best friend was okay or not and after what felt like forever, his worries were calmed as Sam slowly opened her eyes and revealed the normal brown color. She blinked a few times as if she was just getting out of bed and then slowly smiled up at the turtle holding her with such care.  
"You…did it…" she managed to say, still a bit groggy and sore from all that had just occurred to her.  
Mikey couldn't help but smile back down at her. He couldn't think of anything to say because his mind was so wrapped up in the millions of thoughts flying around inside his head. Did this mean that Sam was officially safe? What had just happened to her? Would that happen again? Would any other side effects come about over time? Did this shorten Sam's lifespan? Was Sam a mutant now since she had mutagen in her body? Was the mutagen still in her body?  
All these ongoing thoughts were abruptly brought to an end as Jay ran over and screamed "HELL YEAH YOU DID!" and hugged Sam from behind, and by doing so, he squished Sam against Mikey's chest.

Sam stood there with a blank expression since she didn't really know what to do since she had never been in a situation quite like this this one. Mikey however was laughing and smiling as he and Jay embraced each other in the group hug. The group was then enlarged as the other three brothers all ran over and then surrounded Jay, Sam, and Mikey in a group hug of their own as everyone basically sandwiched Sam in the very middle.  
April was wiping away the last of her tears as she walked over and smiled at the relieved and overjoyed faces of the boys who were happy to have their sister back. Since she was the only person who was watching everything from a further back distance, she was the only that realized that while everyone was participating in the group hug and had their arms wrapped around whoever was next to or in front of them, Mikey's left arm dangled down next to Sam's right as the two were holding hands the entire time the group hug was going on. Assuming it was just an emotional reaction from how close the two were, April decided to take a rain check on bringing this up to either of them and refrained from teasing about it since no one else had seemed to notice this had happened right in front of them. This was mainly because she didn't want to make things awkward for either Mikey or Sam…but in all honesty she hoped that if something was going on here then she would get more chances at seeing something bloom if she didn't bring it up which could bring cute scenes like this to an end, so she pretended to act like she had never seen anything. 

"Whoa…" Sam mumbled. Quickly the group hug dispersed so that they could all see what was wrong.  
"I don't feel so good guys" Sam said slowly, and right after the last word left her lips, her eyes closed once again as she fell into a deep sleep. 

***The next day in the middle of the afternoon*  
**

Sam slowly began to open her eyes as she saw mostly bright white all around her. She slowly began to sit up and realized that she was in a hospital room. At first she was very dazed and confused as she wondered how the heck she ended up in a hospital bed and after a couple of minutes, it was like a flip had been switched as memories from the night previous came flooding through her mind.  
She quickly looked around, trying to see if there were any cameras in the room that would spot her if she tried to sneak out. The first thing on her mind was that she needed to check on the turtles and make sure they were alright. That's when she noticed a pair of navy blue sweat pants sitting on the couch towards the further side of the room. Sam carefully crawled out of the bed and walked over to the couch, surprised that she wasn't anywhere near as sore and in pain as she thought she would be, unless the doctors had drugged her up already which would make a lot of sense based on how many dreadful cuts and bruises she had all over her body.  
On top of the pants was a note that said _"I know you won't listen and wait for someone to come back, so these are for you when you sneak off :P"  
_A huge smile formed on the girl's face as she quickly put the pants on and snuck through the hallways of the hospital until she had reached a staircase that lead her all the way to the roof of the building. 

Once she reached the roof she stood still in the sun for a second, soaking in the sunlight that she hadn't truly felt in so long while she was stuck hiding out in the headquarters building. She then sensed an impatient aura nearby as her smile grew wider and wider.  
"You guys know you didn't have to wait all this time for me to wake up, right?" she asked aloud as she turned around to face the four heads that poked out from the small wall behind the doorway.  
"Eh, there was nothing good on t.v." Raph said with a smirk.  
Sam put her hand over her heart, pretending to feel bashful. "Well, I'm honored that I won the award for being more entertaining than public television."  
"How are you feeling?" Leo asked.  
"Honestly I feel great right now, which I'm shocked at."  
"Jay said they drugged you up real good with the anesthetics" Donnie added.  
"I was wondering that. Hehe in that case, I'll have to thank the doctor" Sam said playfully. She then looked over at the youngest of the four brothers and noticed that he was acting completely out of character as he just stood there quietly. Sam walked over to him and spoke to him gently.  
"Hey, you okay?" she asked softly.  
He looked her right in the eyes as he spoke and asked "are you?"  
Sam tried teasing him, thinking that this approach would help him act silly and energetic as usual, but her face revealed where her mind was at and Mikey cut her off before she could reply.  
"Sam…"  
Her expression softened as she went to answer truthfully…only to be cut off by someone who came storming up through the doorway.  
"I KNEW IT! Why can't you be normal and just relax in bed? Why are you so adventurous? Why can't you just be lazy?" Jay shouted as he fought to catch his breath after running up all the stairs.  
April then came running up as well and was acting the same way. "Hey guys! I never realized how out of shape I was. Wow" she said as she bent over and put her hands on her knees.  
"Hey Jay" the four brothers said in unison while helping April maintain her balance.  
"Hey guys, long time no see. This is what my stupid sister does, gives me a heart attack 24/7."  
Sam rolled her eyes. "Oh relax, plus you're the one that left me the pants!"  
"Yeah, because I didn't want you exposing yourself because I knew this would happen. I'm just glad you came straight here like we all expected."  
Sam tilted her head. "We?"  
"We were talking to your brother last night and we deemed him as trustworthy, so we gave him lair access as we discussed what would happen when you woke up" Leo said with a smile.  
"Heh, looks like these guys know you as well as I do" Jay said.  
Sam had always hoped that Jay would get the chance to meet the turtles, but she never imagined that it would happen so soon. She wanted to continue relishing on these happy thoughts, but she knew there was more that needed to be discussed.  
"Jay…how many?" Sam asked, her smiling face switching over to a calm and serious one.  
Jay scrunched his eyes in confusion. "What are you talking about?"  
"You know what mean, how many people…"  
Jay nodded his head as everyone else on the roof top remained silent and calm, now also curious in the topic at hand.  
"Alright, now you have to be prepared for the number I'm about to say since I wasn't expecting it either…0."  
Sam looked back up at her brother, her eyes wide. "What?"  
Jay started laughing in relief. "None, there were no casualties from the rebels or the loyal soldiers and there were no serious injuries either. Sadly about ¼ of our rebels did need to go to the hospital, but not for any life changing injuries. I don't know about how serious injuries were for the loyals, but hey it won't matter much since they will all be rotting in jail."  
"They all got caught?!"  
"Every single one" he stated with pride.  
"So what happens to everyone who escaped?" Raph asked curiously.  
"The police department have a program set up and A LOT of people from political groups within the city are on board with it" Jay replied.  
"How is that possible?"  
"You guys have no idea how many families were affected by the Foot's actions. It wasn't just everyday people on the street who were affected. Shredder had forced lawyers, doctors, all types of people to do various jobs for him, that or people with socioeconomic power, their kids were kidnapped or they had family members injured or killed, all types of crazy situations, so thousands of people throughout the city know about this situation and are fighting to help protect those who need it. All four of you saved the city in ways you can't even imagine."  
The bashful turtles were silent as Sam cut back in.  
"Sooooo what happened to the bad guys?" she asked in excitement.  
Jay spoke softly as he aimed for climatic effect.  
"So Tatsu…IS IN JAIL!"  
"Sachs?"  
"IN JAIL! And guess who the final person who's been locked away is?"  
Everyone was waiting in anticipation, wondering which of the dreaded villains was now rotting away.  
"SHREDDER!"  
Everyone cheered aloud and joked with each other in enjoyment in knowing their dreaded arch enemy was now locked away and for the time being couldn't harm them or anyone else.  
"Wait," Sam started, "so Karai and Hun got away?"  
"Sadly yes, but the police are always on the lookout for them, and I'm also looking into their whereabouts so that I can get the scoop on the story" April said joyfully.  
"What ever happened to the Mutanimals?" Mikey asked.  
"Thanks to April here we were able to find various homes for them throughout the sewers where they're guarding the professor."  
"Why is he with them?" Raph asked.  
"He grew quite attached to all of them, and they all to him. I mean hey, he is the reason they all look the way they do now. That and he's doing research underground with them with all the mutagen that we saved."  
The turtles cringed a bit at this, and Jay sensed the reaction immediately.  
"Don't worry, the Mutanimals are skilled and strong, they can protect him and all the chemicals with him."  
"Why does he want to study all the chemicals in the first place?" Donnie asked.  
"Mainly for medical research for the Mutanimals themselves, but also to see if any of the mutagen or combinations can benefit and save the public in anyway." 

Just then, Sam's body started tilting to the side and she would have landed right on the ground if Mikey hadn't caught her before she fell.  
"Sam?" he asked, failing to hide how frantic he was.  
She stood back up as quickly as she could and faced him, though Mikey didn't let go until she was standing on her own two feet for a couple of minutes.  
"Don't worry, I'm fine. I think the anesthetics are starting to wear off some though."  
"Where does it hurt?" Jay asked.  
"Uhhhhh well my back feels like it's on fire, and the rest of my body just feels hot in general, though it's probably from the burning from my back."  
Jay smiled as he walked over and put his arm around his sister's shoulder.  
"I think it's time we all part ways for the day. Don't worry, you'll see these guys soon enough. We'll both go, okay?"  
Sam shot her brother a huge smile and then aimed that smile over at the four brothers who were now standing in front of her.  
"Thanks again guys, for trusting me in the end. I can't imagine what you guys were going through with the way things went down."  
"We should have treated you better, but hopefully this makes up for it some" Leo said with an apologetic shrug.  
Sam nodded at him, but then she softened her expression.  
"You guys know it's not the end though, right? Karai still has connections to soldiers from Japan and Hun can easily find more thugs to take advantage of, and we still have no idea who Shredder's supplier was and where that person is now."  
The four brothers all looked at one another, and then they all looked at Sam.  
"If any of them decided to come back, then they better be ready for what's coming for them as well. None of us are going anywhere, so it's them who should be ready" Leo stated with confidence.  
"Yeah, for us to KICK THEIR ASS! Nothing stops the green machine!" Mikey called out.  
"Ugh, let's go" Raph said as he pushed his youngest brother and rolled his eyes.  
The turtles said their final goodbyes to their human friends for the day and the remaining human three did the same back as the turtles carefully and quickly made their way down the building and into a darkened alley where they escaped back down underground. 

Sam walked with Jay and April back down to the room where Sam would receive her treatment. Her worst fear had now been shoved under the rug. She had worried for so long that the boys would never want to talk to her ever again and that once again she would be lonely, and if anything had happened to Jay then she would have been all alone for who knew how long…but they didn't allow that to happen. After everything that she had said and done to them, all four of them came back and saved her in multiple ways. More than anything she was happy to them all acting as their usual selves, especially Mikey who was finally acting like his usual dorky self as the group made their exit. Sam couldn't wait for when she would get to happily return to the sewers and even greet Sensei with a smile, and she couldn't wait to see what their next adventure would be, but for now, she was just focused on taking her medicine and getting some more sleep.

She had no idea how many more adventures she would experience with the four turtles and her new family of mutants and humans, and she had no idea what else would blossom in the process.

**Updated: **So this is where my series ended right before the school year started. Don't worry, this series isn't going anywhere, but this is a heads up that chapter updates will take longer. Like yesterday I uploaded three chapters, but that's because I've been revising up until now. I'm excited to say that I'll officially be writing new material now, but any and all continuing readers just have to bear with me as I get new chapters typed up.

But again, to all those who have left any type of feedback or response, thank you so much. It means the world to me that you have all given my story a chance and have continued to follow through with my OC and her adventures with the turtles. Well, until next time!

**Original:**

**OH MY GOD YESSSSSSSS! Finale is complete! Sorry it took so long, unfortunately I couldn't finish this chapter before my mental deadline, aka when classes started up again. It's the middle of week two and I already have so much going on, so this will be the last chapter…for now.**

**What? You guys didn't think this was the actual ending, did you? If so…hehe, gotcha ;)**

**This is the finale, but it's just the finale of part one of what I currently have down as a three part series. The third part may get broken up into different parts, but trust me when I say there's A LOT MORE that I want to do with this story. **

**You know how t.v. shows go on seasonal breaks? Sadly that's what I have to do with this series until classes end -_- But don't worry, I WILL RETURN! Think of this as me preparing for season two lol.**

**But thank you to those who have been reading my story for so long, and those that were sad about this possibly ending, your comments truly meant the world to me. Thank you to any and all who have read my story and have continued this exciting journey with me, and stayed tuned for when the next chapter is finally released!**


End file.
